Cursed Blood
by PurpleIris88
Summary: In the peaceful land of fire one young ninja's life is flipped upside down and sideways. But, despite everything, she holds onto a positive outlook; which is hard to do when your closest blood relative hates you. The girl learns that a ninja's greatest curse is their own blood. This is a re-vamped version of the same story I had previously written.
1. Mizuto Akina!

Chapter one: Mizuto Akina!

I began this story when Naruto was still new -I believe there were only five or six volumes out at the time- and I have fixed and re-written this story countless times since then.

But now, hopefully, this will be the final version.

Also I do realize that this is not an original concept, but this was one of the very first major stories I had ever written, so I felt that it needed to be completed. Sort of a pet project.

Enjoy?

Disclaimer: If I owned it, then I wouldn't need to write fanfiction.

...

A young, violet haired girl suddenly awoke in a cold sweat, breathing heavily; her wide eyes faded from a deep crimson to their usual pale violet as wakefulness reached her mind.

"That dream again…" She whispered, falling back into her pillow; the girl covered her face with her left arm and sighed. After a short while she rolled over, glancing at the clock on her bedside table; it took her brain a long moment to register what the ticking numbers meant.

"I'm late!" She shouted and struggled out of the tangle of blankets on her bed. The girl finally escaped and quickly gathered up an outfit before running across the hall to the bathroom. She took only ten minutes to do what usually took half an hour then ran down the hall, snatching up her bento and a wrapped up rice ball from the kitchen along her way. The girl stopped only to put her sandals on in the entryway before heading out the door.

"I'm late for school! Bye!" She waved to a young, dark haired woman who was standing in the front garden, chatting with one of the neighbors. The woman, named Chiyoshi Mai, was the girl's godmother as well as her legal guardian.

"Have a good day, dear!" The woman waved back, a cheerful smile spread across her face.

The girl ran all the way to the school building, half-way across the village. When she finally reached her classroom she was surprised to see that the room was almost completely empty; only half a dozen students were waiting around the room, two of which the girl was very familiar with. The first was a boy with dark brown hair, tied up in a short ponytail on top of his head. The second was a boy with black hair which spiked up in the back, similar in shape to a duck's tail feathers.

She walked up next to the first boy who was hunched over the desk, his forehead resting atop his crossed arms. This boy was Nara Shikamaru. He was merely a lazy bum, but had also been her very best friend for most of her life.

Shikamaru was clearly sleeping, so the girl quietly slid up next to him on the long bench and leaned down so her mouth was only an inch away from his ear.

She smiled to herself before shouting. "GOOD MORNING, SHIKAMARU!"

The boy jumped up, his head nearly knocking into her's. He held his hands over his ears and turned to glare at the girl who merely smiled innocently at him. "Akina, are you trying to deafen me?"

"Sorry, Shika." The girl, Akina, tilted her head to one side, still smiling.

The other children in the room turned to send the two of them annoyed stares, especially the black haired boy who sat two rows forward. He not only appeared annoyed, but genuinely angry. Akina and Shikamaru ignored them.

"You're late." Shikamaru muttered in irritation and lazily rested his chin in his hand, elbow sitting atop the desk's surface. His dark gaze never once left the girl's face.

Akina stuck her tongue out and made a humming sort of sound. "I'm clearly not the only one. And you are not someone to lecture me about being late in the first place."

The boy shrugged his shoulders and leaned against the back of the bench.

"So where is everyone, anyway?" The girl asked, glancing around the room. "More than half of the class is missing, along with Iruka-Sensei."

Shikamaru closed his eyes and sighed in exasperation. "It's Naruto again. Everyone went to go watch him get his ass kicked."

The girl shook her head, causing her short feathery hair to float about from the motion. "What did he do this time?"

"Apparently he painted stuff over the Hokage mountain faces." The boy answered dryly, folding his arms behind his head. "I'm sure Lord Hokage and Iruka-Sensei are letting him have it by now."

After another moment the door to the classroom slid open, rattling loudly. Students filed into the room and quietly walked to their respective seats, followed by a man with hair similar to Shikamaru's and an old scar running across the bridge of his nose. The man dragged a boy with spikey blonde hair, who had been tied up with ropes, into the class behind him. When the two reached the front of the classroom the man made the boy sit on the floor and began to lecture him in front of the entire class.

Akina leaned over towards Shikamaru and whispered. "Was tying him up really necessary?"

"Do you think Iruka-Sensei would've gotten Naruto here otherwise?" The dark haired boy whispered back.

"Maybe not." She replied quietly, sitting back up straight in her seat.

After Iruka had finally finished shouting at Naruto he turned to the rest of the class and ordered them to line up in the middle of the classroom for a review of the art of transformation, the Henge no Jutsu. Most of the students whined and shouted out complaints, but did as they were told anyway.

"This is so troublesome." Shikamaru grumbled while he got up to join the line.

Akina snickered at her friend's complaint, following him in line. "At least it's something easy."

The ponytailed boy just huffed at her response, shoving his hands into his pockets.

The first student in line was Haruno Sakura, a girl with long pink hair. Akina considered the girl to be a complete twit despite her high test scores; Sakura behaved in a loud and overbearing manner, which annoyed the violet haired girl to no end.

Sakura raised both of her hands, placing them together into the sign of transformation, and then poofed into a perfect replica of their teacher. Iruka nodded, told the girl she had done well, and wrote down the score on a clipboard.

The pink haired girl cheered and turned around in an attempt to get the attention of the boy behind her. Said boy merely ignored the girl and stepped forward to take his turn demonstrating the Jutsu.

This boy was Uchiha Sasuke, the black haired boy who had sat a few rows ahead of Shikamaru. Akina knew this boy very well, in fact. She and Sasuke were cousins, in a mildly round-about way; his father had been a cousin through marriage to Akina's own mother, Uchiha Ayame.

Sasuke raised his hands into the same sign Sakura had used and he, too, poofed into a perfect replica of their teacher. The teacher once again nodded and wrote down the score, just like before. The Uchiha boy quickly returned to his seat without a glance to anyone.

 _He is as social as ever._ The violet haired girl mused, watching her cousin as he sat down and folded his hands together atop the desk.

The next student in line was Uzumaki Naruto. He had been untied by Iruka just after their teacher announced that they would do the review.

"This is a total waste of time, Naruto." Shikamaru, who stood just behind the blonde boy, complained.

It was then that a girl with long blonde hair leaned around Akina, practically pushing her out of line. "We always pay for your screw ups!" She whispered harshly to Naruto.

This girl was Yamanaka Ino. Her personality was similar to Sakura's, so Akina, of course, didn't hold any affection for her.

"Yeah-yeah!" Naruto waved the two off before stepping up to perform his own transformation. He placed his hands into the appropriate sign and then was surrounded by a small poof of smoke, just like the two before him had.

But this time, when the smoke cleared, it was not a replica of Iruka who stood before the teacher. Instead it was a completely naked female version of Naruto himself. Naruto struck a lude pose and blew a kiss at the teacher. This somehow caused Iruka's nose to bleed violently.

Naruto returned to his normal appearance and laughed, perfectly pleased with himself. "How do you like my Sexy Jutsu?"

Akina raised a hand to her forehead and sighed. "Death by nose-bleed is a good five or six points, but your execution was severely lacking, Naruto."

The blonde boy scrunched his face up at the girl, clearly not pleased with the rating. "Jeez, that's harsh." He whined, adjusting the goggles that sat on his forehead.

It took their teacher a long moment to recover, and to shove some pieces of tissue into his nostrils. The teacher once again began shouting at the boy, telling him that he was wasting his time with stupid and immature pranks.

Once Iruka had finished lecturing Naruto for the second time, the remainder of the class was able to finish the review in peace. Though many of them still complained, especially Shikamaru.

After her classes ended for the day, Akina wandered aimlessly around the village. She had walked home with Shikamaru at first, but his mother ordered him to do various chores, so they agreed to spend time together the following day instead.

The girl made a full circle around the village by the time it was dark and somehow ended up standing in front of the Ichiraku Noodle Bar. Her stomach growled at that moment, letting her know that it was time for dinner.

Akina shrugged her shoulders and walked towards the little building. "This is way better than Aunt Mai's cooking." She entered beneath the fabric door flaps and took a seat at the bar, her feet no longer reaching the floor when she sat on the barstool.

"Good evening, Akina." The shop owner, Teuchi, greeted the girl. "I take it you were left to fend for yourself tonight?" He chuckled and draped the towel he'd been wiping his hands with over his shoulder.

The girl smiled and nodded her head. "Shikamaru is doing chores and it's Aunt Mai's turn to cook tonight."

Teuchi laughed and nodded in return. "Then I will have your usual right out for you!"

"Thanks!" She gave a little wave and kicked her feet happily.

Just then two more customers walked in and Akina turned to see who it was. Naruto and their teacher, Iruka, sat at the other end of the bar.

"Oh! Hey, Naruto! I see that the Hokage faces are nice and clean." She sent the blonde boy a teasing smile.

Naruto scrunched his face and stuck his tongue out at the girl. "Yeah-yeah! Iruka-Sensei had me up there cleaning for the rest of the day."

The girl stuck her tongue out in return, then giggled. "Don't get so worked up over it. That prank was only a two at best." she held up two fingers in front of her face like the peace sign.

The boy sent her a sour glance. "Akina, I think your rating system sucks."

"Please don't encourage him." Iruka cut in, smiling helplessly.

...

The very next day Akina walked into her classroom early, which certainly didn't happen often. Her godmother, Mai, had woken her up and scolded her for always going to bed so late.

"It just feels weird being at school early." The girl muttered to herself, glancing around the classroom. She spotted a familiar girl with short black hair and happily walked over to her. "Morning, Hinata!" She smiled and waved to the girl.

"G-good morning, Akina." Hinata stuttered, smiling shyly up at the violet haired girl. She scooted over and motioned for Akina to join her on the bench.

Hyuuga Hinata had always been a shy and withdrawn girl for as long as Akina could remember. The two became friends a few years prior, after Akina had gotten into a fight with Hinata's older cousin, Neji.

Akina watched as Hinata snuck glances in Naruto's direction. She smiled knowingly at her friend. "So the final test is today."

The Hyuuga girl turned her attention back to her friend. "Y-yeah. I'm a little nervous." She pressed her pointer fingers together, a habit Hinata usually had when she was feeling insecure.

"Don't worry. You'll do just fine!" The violet haired girl reassured her friend, grinning confidently.

Hinata merely nodded, her gaze returning to the back of Naruto's head.

 _Him I'm not so sure about..._ Akina thought to herself, her own gaze turning to the blonde boy.

It wasn't long before the rest of the class and their teacher, Iruka, arrived in the classroom. Iruka explained that their final exam would be on the clone technique, Bunshin no Jutsu. Once their names were called each student was to go into the next room and create three clones of themselves, using this technique, in front of a panel of teachers who would record their score.

Akina waited patiently for her turn, watching as students were called out and later returned with Konohagakure forehead protectors tied around their heads.

"Mizuto Akina."

Her name had finally been called. The girl eagerly left her seat and headed to the room next door. When she entered, Iruka and one other teacher, Mizuki-Sensei, sat behind a desk in the center of the room.

"Mizuto Akina, you must create three clones of yourself using the Bunshin no Jutsu." Iruka explained, picking up his pen from the desk.

Akina nodded and placed her hands together in the correct sign; with a poof of smoke three copies of herself stood beside the girl.

Her teacher smiled after writing down the score. "Very good, you pass."

The three clones poofed away and Akina gave a little jump of happiness. "I did it! Yay!" She then reached out to take one of the blue-clothed headbands from the desk, but Iruka stopped her and Akina stared up at him questioningly.

The teacher then reached for something in the desk drawer. "I was given something special for you this morning." He pulled out a headband which had a deep purple cloth instead of blue.

The girl looked up at him in confusion, tilting her head to one side. "What's this? The cloth is a different color."

"This was your mother's. It was saved as a keepsake for the day when you would eventually graduate from the academy." Iruka handed the headband over to the girl, smiling proudly.

Akina bowed to her teacher and tied the forehead protector around her head. "Thank you, Iruka-Sensei." She then left the room and happily returned to her seat beside Hinata.

 _Mother…_

"You did it!" Hinata cheered happily, but quietly.

"Yep!" The Mizuto girl replied, smiling cheerily.

But then her friend gave her a quizzical stare. "But why is it purple? I thought they were all blue."

Akina grinned proudly, touching the metal plate with the leaf symbol in it's center. "This is a keepsake from my mother."

"Oh." Hinata smiled sadly. "It's nice that you have something to remember her by."

The violet haired girl nodded and sat down next to her friend. She watched as more students were called out and eventually returned.

And then...

"Uzumaki Naruto!"

Naruto's name was called and the boy slowly rose to his feet.

"Oh, I hope Naruto will do alright." Hinata muttered quietly, starring at the boy with a worried expression.

 _Yeah, he's not exactly the best student here._ But even with that thought, Akina smiled at her friend reassuringly. "I'm sure he'll do just fine!"

But, of course, Naruto was the only one who didn't pass.

...

The students and their families all stood outside in the academy courtyard, celebrating their graduation. That is, all except Naruto, who hadn't passed the exam. Instead the boy sat on a nearby swing, watching the other children and their families.

"Jeez, you'd think even he could pass a test this easy." Shikamaru grumbled, shoving his hands into his pockets.

"Considering that even a lazy bum like you was able to pass?" Akina asked slyly, leaning over towards Shikamaru.

The boy just huffed and turned away, his cheeks slightly flushed.

"Poor Naruto." Hinata whispered sadly, gazing off in the blonde's direction.

"Hey, don't worry! There will always be next time." Akina reassured her friend. "He'll get it eventually."

"I suppose you are right." Hinata replied, though she didn't seem to feel any better.

Akina sighed and shook her head, then seemed to remember something. "Oh yeah! Shikamaru, I'll be eating at your house tonight!" She smiled happily at her friend.

"Hey! When was this decided?" The boy asked in an annoyed tone.

Akina sent Shikamaru a dull glare, leaning towards him once again. "Last night, remember? We promised to spend time together after classes."

"So troublesome." He sighed and scratched the back of his head, his face once more tinting to a slightly pink hue.

...

True to her word, Akina had gone home with Shikamaru and sat down to dinner with his family. This was a normal occurrence at the Nara household, and the girl's presence was quite welcomed by Shikaku and Yoshino, Shikamaru parents. Yoshino, his mother, had always been particularly fond of the Mizuto girl; often wishing out loud for Shikamaru to marry Akina so she could then be her daughter-in-law. As it was, Yoshino already thought of Akina as a daughter and treated her as such, much to her son's annoyance.

"That was a really good meal, as usual, Mrs. Nara!" Akina chirped happily after finishing up her dinner.

"Why thank you, Akina. I'm glad you enjoy my cooking." Yoshino smiled politely as she began to removed the dishes from the table.

"Oh! Please allow me to help with cleaning up." The girl stood before Yoshino could answer and gathered her own dishes along with Shikamaru's, who had been sitting beside her at the table.

"Thank you, dear. You are always a great help, unlike two certain people around here." The woman sent a stern stare towards her son and husband.

The two males grumbled, sending each other pitiful glances. Shikamaru was the spitting image of his father, Shikaku, which was most evident when the two sat next to each other. Akina always found the resemblance a little humorous, since the two Nara men even shared the same lazy stare and lopsided grin. Looking at his father, she knew Shikamaru would grow up to be quite handsome, despite him being lanky and awkward at his current age.

"Akina, you be careful when you get married. If you don't take a good hold of the reins from the beginning, your husband will run wild and do as he pleases." Mrs. Nara warned the girl as they cleaned the dishes.

"I will try to remember that." Akina giggled, turning around to send a sly smirk in Shikamaru's direction.

The boy sent her a sour glare in return.

"Shikamaru... be careful when you get married. A strong-willed woman is good, but they can easily wear you down if you drop your guard." Shikaku whispered to his son, who merely nodded in confirmation.

"We can hear you, Shikaku." Yoshino turned to face her husband, hands firmly placed on her hips in disapproval.

The man raised his hands and quickly apologized. Akina couldn't help but giggle; it was clear to her who truly ran the Nara household.

After the dishes were finished, Akina joined Shikamaru up in his room. The two genin sat on the little outcrop of roof just outside Shikamaru's window and gazed up at the stars.

"So, what do you think the teams will be?" Akina asked, lying down on the roof next to her friend.

"I don't know. If it's with you and Choji I'll be fine, anyone else will just get on my nerves." The boy answered, giving a lazy yawn.

Akina turned towards the boy, giving him a serious stare. "But what if it is someone else? We'll be separated."

For a while he just stared up at the stars, silently, as if deep in thought. "Then maybe they wouldn't eat my lunch."

Akina punched him in the arm. "Jerk!" She then giggled when he made a pained face.

"Ow, that hurt…" Shikamaru muttered, rubbing his abused arm.

"You are such a wimp." The girl continued to laugh; teasing him was just so much fun.

The brunet rolled his eyes in response, and then glanced down at her with a more serious face. "What would you do? If you were teamed up with anyone else, I mean."

Now it was Akina's turn to look thoughtful. "I don't know… I suppose there's nothing I could do, really. I just hope it's not with Sasuke... or any of his fan girls."

Shikamaru rolled his eyes once again and sighed. "That's about half of the student population,"

The violet haired girl nodded and laughed again. "Meaning I'm in serious trouble!"

"That makes two of us." He nodded and yawned lazily.

Akina sighed and stood up from where she had been laying.

"You leaving?" The boy asked, looking a bit disappointed.

She nodded and smiled faintly. "It's getting late. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

"Yeah." Shikamaru stood as well, preparing to return to his room.

As though on a whim, Akina suddenly stepped closer to the boy and kissed him on the cheek before turning to the edge of his roof and jumping down. She looked back only to wave to him before running off down the street.

Shikamaru watched as the girl's form disappeared around a corner, his face flushed red. "So troublesome." He sighed and returned to his room.


	2. A free day with Friends!

Chapter two: A free day with friends!

I had some trouble with this one since it was a complete re-write. Hardly anything from the original is left.

Enjoy?

Disclaimer: If I owned it, then I wouldn't need to write fanfiction.

...

That following day the newly graduated Genin were required to have their pictures taken for registration as official Shinobi. The forms would be approved by the Lord Hokage himself.

Akina made sure to put on her best outfit and even polished the metal plate of her forehead protector. Sadly there was nothing she could really do for her hair; the feathered strands fluffed this way and that as they pleased and nothing she tried could tame the violet mop.

With an exasperated sigh, she left the bathroom and headed to the kitchen, where Mai was waiting for her.

"Ayame. Akito. Our baby girl is growing up!" the woman gushed with tears in her dark eyes.

"Aunt Mai... Please don't overreact. I'm only a genin." Akina shook her head and sat down at the table. Her appointment with the photographer wasn't until noon, so she had plenty of time to eat breakfast.

Mai tutted and turned to the counter. "Well anyway. In honor of this once-in-a-lifetime occasion I made your favorite breakfast!"

Akina's pale eyes widened and she contemplated running away. "Y-you made it?"

Mai glared at the girl, noticing her reaction. "Okay, fine... I asked a neighbor to help me."

The girl sighed in relief, sinking back into her chair. "I feel safer now."

The woman gave the girl a sour glance and placed a bowl of white rice, a bowl of miso soup, and a plate with rolled omelet, broiled fish, and pickled plums in front of the girl.

"Yumm! Itadakimasu!" Akina clapped her hands together and bowed over the table before picking up a pair of chopsticks. She smiled up at Mai. "Thank you, Aunt Mai!"

The woman couldn't help but smile back, tears forming at the corners of her eyes again. "Anything for you, sweetheart." she patted Akina's head and turned to grab her own breakfast.

The two ate in a pleasant silence for a while.

"Sasuke passed as well?" Mai asked suddenly.

Akina chewed her food slowly and swallowed before answering. "Of course he did."

"We should celebrate with him as well." Mai chirped.

Akina stood, picking up her empty dishes, and walked over to place them into the sink. "I'll be at Shikamaru's, so feel free." She turned on the faucet and grabbed a sponge.

Mai followed her goddaughter with her eyes. "Akina... I know Sasuke said things that upset you before, but you two are the only family each other has left. You used to be such good friends."

Akina paused in washing the dishes, the running water was the only thing that made sound for a long moment. "I really can't stand the way he looks at me." she shut the tap off and turned to leave. "I'll be at Shikamaru's."

The girl left the room and put her sandals on in the entry way before heading out the door. She would be a little early for her appointment, but that was okay.

...

Akina had to wait until the kid before her had finished their shoot, which had taken an entire hour. She never saw who the other kid was, but she was grateful when her name had finally been called.

Getting her photo taken only took a couple minutes and Akina had the remainder of the day free. She had already told Mai that she would be at Shikamaru's, so the girl headed in that direction.

Along the way to Shikamaru's house Akina found herself suddenly tackled from behind, arms were wrapped around her shoulders and a mop of fluffy brown hair tickled her cheek. There was also the distinct smell of dog.

"Hey, Akina!" a familiar voice drawled in her ear.

"Let go of me, Kiba..." the girl growled, elbowing him in the gut.

The boy released her with a pained moan and held his stomach instead. "C'mon! That was uncalled for!"

Akina turned to glare at the boy, Inuzuka Kiba. He wasn't a bad guy, just far too excitable, like a spoiled puppy. "Kiba, I've told you many times not to grab onto me like that."

He raised his hands in defense. "Sorry, sorry. I just saw you and it's been a while, so I got excited."

Despite his demeanor, Akina liked Kiba. He was an energetic relief to Shikamaru's laziness.

It also helped that his family raised dogs. Akina liked dogs.

"Where's Akamaru?" She asked suddenly, crossing her arms.

The boy sighed and unzipped his jacket. A furry white muzzle popped out with a bark. Akina's eyes lit up and she instantly plucked the little puppy from inside Kiba's jacket and cradled him in her arms.

"Akamaru! You're so cute!" She cuddled the pup and nuzzled her nose into the top of his head. To this Akamaru happily wagged his tail.

Kiba gave the two a sour glare. "Jeez. Wish I was a dog."

"What's that?" Akina tilted her head at the boy, her pale eyes narrow with challenge.

The boy's face tinted red and he glanced away. "Never mind."

The girl giggled evilly and continued to smother Akamaru.

"Anyway... where were you going?" Kiba asked, glancing sideways at the two.

"I was going to Shikamaru's and then Choji's to see if they wanted to hang out." She shrugged.

"Can I come?" the boy asked with a hopeful tone.

Akina shrugged again. "Sure, I don't really mind."

Kiba's eyes lit up and she was certain that if the boy had a tail it would be wagging.

The two continued towards Shikamaru's house with Akina in the lead and Kiba following behind. The girl cuddled and cooed at the puppy in her arms the whole way, causing Kiba to roll his eyes at her multiple times.

Before long they reached the Nara residence and Akina called up to the open window of Shikamaru's bedroom. "Hey, Shika! Shiiiiikaaaa~!"

"What?!" Suddenly a head popped out from inside the room and Shikamaru glared down at the girl. "Akina? We didn't plan to meet up today, did we?"

Akina gave a huff and glared right back. "Oh, do I need an appointment to see you now? If that's the case, then I will just leave. Come on, Kiba." the girl began walking off and Shikamaru seemed to notice just then that the other boy was present.

"Fine! Wait right there! I'm coming down." He grumbled before disappearing from view.

The violet-haired girl continued to walk away, but much slower than before. After she had moved about ten paces Shikamaru stepped out from the front doorway, hands in his pockets and a scowl on his face. "Akina, stop! I didn't mean it that way." the Nara boy insisted, then sent an annoyed glance in Kiba's direction. "What's he doing here anyway?"

"Kiba is spending time with me, unlike someone else." Akina snipped back, her nose turned up in the air.

"Akina..." Shikamaru sighed and shook his head. "I'm down here now."

"Not good enough." she replied, refusing to look at him.

The boy sighed yet again, looking defeated. "I'll buy you lunch."

Akina turned just enough to glance at him from the corner of her eye. "That's it?"

Shikamaru's expression grew annoyed. "For the next week."

The girl faced him fully and pouted. "Do you honestly think my love can only be bought with food?"

"That's usually the case..." He replied mildly, glancing away from the face that hovered directly in front of his own, his cheeks coloring slightly.

Akina huffed and turned away. "You are sooo unromantic, Shikamaru."

The boy blinked in confusion. "Wait...what did you want, then?"

"Too late now! You will be buying me lunch for the next week." the girl walked off, feeling quite accomplished.

Kiba stepped up next to Shikamaru, placing a hand on the other boy's shoulder. "Looks like you lost that one."

Shikamaru sighed, hanging his head. "She always manages to do that to me."

Kiba patted his friend's shoulder. "It's okay, man. She does that to everyone."

After another moment of despair the two boys followed Akina and Shikamaru soon realized they were heading in the direction of Choji's house.

"So were you just bored?" Shikamaru asked, giving her a dull stare.

Akina didn't bother to turn around when she replied, continuing along the path to Choji's. "I had the rest of the day free."

"You and Mai have a fight?" Shikamaru strode up next to the girl, concerned now. "Is it about Sasuke again?" He held an edge to his tone when speaking the other boy's name.

"It's nothing serious. Aunt Mai just wants to celebrate Sasuke graduating." Akina kept her face turned away. "I don't want to be there, simple as that."

Shikamaru sighed and reached out to grab her shoulder, stopping her mid-step. "You can spend the night at my house if you want."

She turned a sly eye to the taller boy. "Ohh?"

Now it was his turn to look away, though Akina could still see the color on his cheeks. "Forget I said anything! You can go home!"

"Hey! What are you guys talking about?" Kiba asked, popping his head between the other two.

"We're here!" Akina slipped out of Shikamaru's hold and ran up ahead. "Choji!"

By the time she reached the house Choji was opening the door with a confused look on his face. "Akina?" He then looked past the girl. "Shika and Kiba, too?"

The other two boys waved when they approached the household.

"Wanna hang out?" Akina chirped, smiling happily.

Choji glanced back and forth between the other three. "Uh, sure. I don't have any plans until dinner."

"Alright!" Akina cheered happily. Akamaru barked with equal joy from within her arms.

...

The foursome found themselves in a small clearing in the middle of some trees. This was their usual hang-out spot where they often played and trained.

"To think this could be the last time we get to spend together like this for a while. We will all be busy as Genin." Akina walked out into the middle of the clearing and placed Akamaru onto the ground before flopping onto her back atop the thick grass.

Shikamaru joined her on the ground. "We're just Genin, so I doubt we'll be that busy."

Choji also joined them. "We can always make time for each other."

Kiba left Akamaru to run around in the clearing and sat down cross-legged in the grass. "So who do you guys want to be teamed with?"

Akina sat up on her elbows. "Kiba, you know that we don't get to chose, right?"

"Yeah." Kiba shrugged. "But we can still talk about who we want to be paired with, right?"

"That's true." The girl nodded. "I would be okay with any of you guys. And Hinata."

"Akina and Choji, definitely." Shikamaru announced without hesitation.

"I also just want to be in the same group with Shikamaru and Akina." Choji added his own in.

Kiba let out an exaggerated sighed. "I guess I should've expected answers like that from you guys."

"Well, what about you, then?" Choji asked him.

The boy appeared to think deeply on that question before answering. "Two hot girls."

Akina sent the Inuzuka boy a sour glare.

Shikamaru sighed. "Kiba, are you an idiot?"

Kiba pouted in true puppy dog fashion. "Well, if we're dreaming."

"That's certainly a dream." Both Akina and Shikamaru muttered at the same time.

"Excuse me for being a hopeful single guy." Kiba muttered, sending the two a pouty glare.

Akina sat up to pet the boy's fluffy head. "Let's just get through puberty first before you start worrying about being single, okay?" She laughed at the embarrassment on all three of the boys faces.

Shikamaru snorted. "You are the only girl who would say something like that without shame."

Akina laughed again. "It's not something I worry about."

The four of them sat in the clearing for a long time; telling jokes and laughing at old memories.

Eventually the day began to grow late.

Choji stood up and brushed his shorts off. "Well, I'm off. I think I can smell dinner from here."

"Aww! Already?" Akina pouted and rolled around in the grass. She had hoped to spend more time with her friends.

"Yeah. Sorry, Akina." Choji scratched the back of his head.

Then Kiba stood up and stretched. "Akamaru and I should be getting back, too." There was a bark of agreement from a small patch of taller grass a few feet away.

Akina reached out for the pup. "Akamaruuu! Come say goodbye!"

The little white dog hurriedly walked over to the girl and allowed her to pick him up.

Akina hugged him and nuzzled her nose between his ears. "I wish I could take you home with me." Akamaru barked, his tail wagging.

"Traitor..." Kiba muttered, crossing his arms over his chest. "Come on, Akamaru. Let's get you your dinner."

With another bark the little dog leapt from Akina's arms and followed his owner.

Kiba and Choji both left, waving their goodbyes.

Once the two had gone out of sight Akina laid back onto the grass with a sigh.

"I was serious, you know." Shikamaru suddenly spoke.

"About what?" the girl asked, distracted by the clouds, which were just starting to turn pink and gold.

"About spending the night at my house if you don't want to go home. I'm sure mom wouldn't mind." Shikamaru leaned over Akina, grabbing her attention.

Violet eyes locked with dark brown. "That's nice of you."

"I'm not just doing it to be nice, you know." He glanced away, his face flushing.

"Then it's very cunning of you." she giggled.

"T-that's not it, either!" the boy huffed. "I just..."

Akina smiled and sat up, kissing Shikamaru's cheek. "I know. Thank you."

He sat back, his face turned away. "Y-yeah..."

"I guess it is starting to get late, huh?" Both of them looked to the sky, which had quickly changed to bright hues of gold, pink, and purple. The sun was starting to set.

"Guess so..." Shikamaru stood and held his hand out for Akina, which she happily took, allowing him to help her up.

"Are you going home?" he asked as they left the clearing.

She hummed in thought and was about to say something when suddenly someone stood in front of them. "S-Sasuke..."

The Uchiha boy had his arms crossed and appeared to be in a worse mood than usual. "Mai sent me to find you."

"I already told her that I wasn't going to be home." The girl still held Shikamaru's hand and huddled herself closer to her best friend.

The two boys glared at each other before Sasuke turned his attention back to his cousin. "I'm not leaving without you."

With an exasperated sigh Akina let go of Shikamaru's hand and gave him an apologetic smile. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah." The Nara boy nodded, his hand losing warmth as her fingers slipped away.

Akina walked away with Sasuke, who had started to leave as soon as she'd given in. "Could you possibly be in a nastier mood?"

He turned to glare at her, black eyes boring into violet. "I've been looking for you for over an hour."

"Not my fault." she muttered, kicking a pebble.

Neither of them spoke after that until they returned to Akina's house.

"Oh! Akina, you came home..." Mai seemed quite shocked when the pair walked into the house.

"Didn't you send Sasuke out to find me?" the girl questioned, a feeling of suspicion crawling over her.

Mai shook her head and glanced to the boy, who refused to face either of them. "Sasuke?"

"She's here now, so don't make a fuss over it." he replied grumpily.

Akina crossed her arms with a huff. "You cunning little jerk."

"Akina, let's not fight, please. I'm glad that both of you are here." Mai attempted to calm the two pre-teens. "Come on, now. Dinner will be getting cold."

"Did you cook?" both of the children spoke at once then gave each other an odd stare.

Now Mai huffed in anger. "No... I didn't. And I would appreciate it if the two of you would stop acting as though my food is poison."


	3. Allies and Rivals!

Chapter Three: Allies and Rivals!

Again, I realize that this is not an original concept, but it's become a pet project at this point, so I am keeping the same plot line from when I first started writing this story.

Also you may notice that some scenes relate more to the anime and some relate more to the manga. This is just because I picked out whichever scenes I enjoyed the most.

Enjoy?

Disclaimer: If I owned it then I wouldn't need to write fanfiction.

...

"I can't believe I had to put up with that last night." The violet haired girl had grumbled along her way to school. She stormed into the classroom and looked around, most of the class had been seated already. She was a bit late, as usual.

 _Now where is that jerk?_ She glanced around before spotting a spiky mop of black hair. _I never got a chance to question him._ Akina made her way toward the Uchiha boy. The seat row Sasuke was sitting in was empty, all except for one other person.

"Naruto? What are you doing here?" Akina blinked with shock when she walked up to the boy.

"Why does everybody keep asking me that? Can't you all see the headband?" Naruto snapped, pointing towards his forehead. He was, indeed, wearing a Konoha headband.

Akina was confused, but merely sighed at the boy's reaction and held her hands up in defeat. "Well, anyway. Could I sit there?" she pointed to the space between him and Sasuke.

Naruto looked confused, glancing between the pair of cousins. Everyone knew the two of them didn't get along very well. "Uh…yeah, sure…I guess."

Just as Naruto was getting up to let her in the seat, Haruno Sakura and Yamanaka Ino both ran through the upper door at the same time, getting themselves stuck in the process. And, if that wasn't bad enough, after finally squeezing through, the both of them started fighting about who was first in the door.

 _Could they possibly be more annoying?_ Akina sighed in exasperation.

Naruto noticed Sakura and stared at her with a dazed expression, seeming excited when she looked over his way. Sakura smiled and ran toward them, in response Naruto stood up and waved. "Morning, Sakura!"

Akina, on the other hand, moved smartly out of the way. Sakura shouted "Move it!" and pushed Naruto onto the floor. The violet haired girl knelt down next to the blond, who was now upside-down on the stairs. "You really should have seen that coming, Naruto."

"Y-yeah..." He replied in a pained whisper.

Meanwhile Sakura gushed a "Good morning" in sweet tones while staring dreamily at Sasuke.

Akina rolled her eyes. But the Uchiha boy seemed to look right past Sakura, to where Akina was standing, making the Mizuto girl stare back in surprise.

Sakura asked if she could sit next to him, not even noticing the brief exchange.

Just then, Ino strode up and grabbed Sakura's arm, screaming about how she would be sitting next to Sasuke. Soon the two once again fought about who was first in the door and therefore had the right to sit next to the emo boy.

Akina rolled her eyes yet again. "Great… There's no way I can get past them." She muttered and glanced down to where Naruto had been tossed to the ground, but the blond was no longer there. Then Akina heard the girls yelling anew and she looked past them to see that Naruto was now crouched down on the desk-top, his face only inches from Sasuke's; the two of them were glaring death at each other.

All the rest of the girls started shouting as well, some telling Sasuke to hit the blond boy. It was at that moment that a boy from the row ahead turned and bumped his elbow into Naruto's leg, causing the blonde's face, particularly his lips, to crash right into Sasuke's.

The entire classroom fell into silence. You could almost hear the sound of twelve-year-old hearts shattering into millions of pieces. Akina started laughing.

The two boys pulled apart, gagging like they would both die from the contact. Sasuke choked out death threats while Naruto shouted dramatically about being poisoned.

Suddenly the feeling of bloodlust filled the room. Naruto was grabbed by the two girls and promptly beaten into a pulp.

Akina was still laughing; she couldn't help it.

Sasuke glared at her, wiping his mouth off, "It's not funny!"

She finally stopped and turned to smirk at the boy. "Yes it is! Naruto just single-handedly destroyed the dreams of all your fan girls by stealing the great Uchiha Sasuke's one and only first kiss!"

Sasuke was blushing so hard he looked like his head might explode, "That was in no way a kiss!"

The violet haired girl blew a mock kiss at him; by then the other girls were done with Naruto and turned to Akina with bloody intentions.

The Mizuto girl merely crossed her arms and glared at the other two. "Touch me and you die!"

They seemed to think better of fighting with her and returned to the matter at hand. Sakura took the seat next to Sasuke before Ino could. And so, cursing Sakura, Ino took the seat behind her, next to Shikamaru. Naruto recovered from his near meet with death and quickly took the seat next to Sakura, much to her displeasure.

And since all the other seats had been filled by then, Akina was forced to sit behind Naruto, next to a raging Ino-Inferno.

"This is what I get for coming to school late…" she sighed and laid her head on the desk.

...

After Iruka finally arrived to the classroom he began a long speech about the rank of Genin among Shinobi, how the three-man-cells work with a Jonin mentor, and other basic things that they would need to know as Genin. Akina hardly paid attention.

 _Blah, blah…why do teachers always think they have to make such long, boring speeches?_

Iruka finished off by telling the class that selections were made so that every cells abilities would be equal. The entire class groaned in disappointment.

Iruka started calling off names. Akina stared a hole into the back of Sasuke's head.

…

"Cell number seven: Haruno Sakura, Uzumaki Naruto…"

Naruto stood up and cheered, while Sakura looked like she would commit seppuku.

"Uchiha Sasuke…"

Now Sakura cheered, while Naruto slumped in disappointment.

"And…Mizuto Akina." Iruka finished.

Akina's head shot up at the sound of her name "Wuh?!"

Sakura stood. "But sensei, you said only three-man-cells, Akina makes four!" she shouted while pointing to the aforementioned girl.

"And pointing is rude, Haruno." Akina mumbled, causing the pink haired girl to quickly drop her hand.

Iruka sighed and nodded "I did say that, Sakura. But as we have an unexpected number of passing students this year, some exceptions were made."

Sasuke actually looked shocked by this news. Both Sakura and Ino glared fiercely at the violet haired girl.

"Kill me!" she groaned, slamming her head on the desk.

Iruka cleared his throat and looked back down at his list. "Next, Cell number eight: Hyuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba, and Aburame Shino."

Akina looked up again. _Hinata's in Kiba's group... with that creepy Shino guy?_

Having forgotten her anger at Akina, Sakura turned and held two fingers up in 'Victory' at Ino.

Ino growled. "How did you get in his group anyway?!"

Shikamaru sighed. "I don't get it. What do you see in a guy like that? He's not so special."

Ino glared at him. "You are so way beyond clueless, Shikamaru. Don't you get it?"

"No. I don't get it, 'cause I'm not a girl." He glared back.

"I'm a girl and I don't get it, either." Akina muttered sourly.

Ino smiled smugly, ignoring the other girl. "You are so full of yourself, Shikamaru. Jealousy is a terrible thing. I'd hate to be on your team."

Akina snickered. "Yeah, like you're one to talk about Jealousy, Ino."

"Mind your own business!" Ino growled, raising a fist.

Shikamaru merely rolled his eyes.

"Cell number ten: Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru…"

Ino gasped. Shikamaru laughed. "Did you say something about hating to be on my team?"

"And Akimichi Choji." Iruka finished.

Ino looked absolutely crushed.

Akina snickered again. _Serves her right._

"And those are the teams." Iruka announced.

Naruto suddenly stood up and pointed at Sasuke, spouting something about how a "great ninja" like himself had been placed into the same group as a "loser" like Sasuke.

"Seriously, Naruto?" Akina rolled her eyes.

Iruka put his fists on his hips and gave Naruto a pointed stare. He explained that since Naruto managed to graduate after the teams had already been decided, they choose to place him - the lowest scoring student- with Sasuke - the highest scoring student - in order to even out the team.

Some of the class started laughing and the blond boy looked both angry and embarrassed.

"Just make sure you don't get in my way…loser." Sasuke taunted.

Akina rolled her eyes. _You are both losers, get over it..._

"Hey! What did you say?!" Naruto stood up angrily, his hands balled into fists.

"Hard of hearing?" Sasuke asked mockingly, smirking.

"This is going to be a nightmare..." The girl grumbled and pressed her face into the desk's surface.

The class laughed again, making Naruto even angrier. Sakura demanded that Naruto sit down and leave Sasuke alone. Sasuke snorted triumphantly. Akina was getting a headache.

Iruka cleared his throat, calling the student's attention. "After lunch you'll meet your new Jonin teachers. Until then, class dismissed!"

Akina sat up and smiled at Ino and Shikamaru. "Take good care of him for me?"

Ino crossed her arms and glared. "You just keep Sakura away from Sasuke, you hear me?!"

The violet haired girl poked a finger in her own ear. " _ **Loud**_ and clear. But unfortunately for you I have absolutely no intention of interfering with Sakura."

The blond girl's glare hardened, but she didn't bother pressing the matter.

Akina sighed and stood from the seat. "I'm outta here!" she looked around, Sasuke had already disappeared.

...

All of the new Genin ate lunch with their respective teammates. All except team seven, that is.

After a while of searching, Akina finally found Sasuke standing outside a storage room window.

"Hey!" she called out as she jumped up next to him.

"Akina!" He sounded shocked.

The girl took a closer look at him. "…Naruto?"

"What? But how did you know? I thought my transformation was perfect!" The boy whispered in distress.

"It is. You look exactly like Sasuke, grumpy face and everything." she fought to hold back a giggle at the face "Sasuke" was making. "But I can just tell. I have my ways." the girl winked.

He looked down in embarrassment. "Oh. You don't think Sakura will notice, do you?"

"You're doing this to get closer to Sakura? Well, no…I don't think she would, but you should try to act more like Sasuke would. You know, cold and mean!" She scrunched up her face in an attempt imitate Sasuke.

Naruto/Sasuke laughed and nodded, smiling brightly. "Okay! Thanks, Akina!" then started to walk off.

"Oh, Naruto!" she called after him.

He turned to look at her "Yeah?" Somehow he managed to make Sasuke look cute with that innocent, confused expression.

"Where exactly is the real Sasuke? You know if he catches you-"

"Don't worry. I tied him up in there." He pointed to the open window with his thumb.

"Oh? Want me to keep an eye on him?" Akina asked sweetly, her smile transforming into and evil smirk.

He looked unsure for a moment, but nodded anyway. "Just don't untie him until I come back, okay?"

The girl nodded her agreement and waved when Naruto took off toward the park, then, peeking her head inside the window, Akina found Sasuke on the floor glaring up at her. His hands were tied to his back with ropes and there was tape over his mouth in an X shape. She laughed. Sasuke growled from under the tape, his glare hardening.

Akina slunk inside the room and kneeled down in front of him. "You know what? Rope suits you."

He growled again, struggling against the bindings.

"Now, now…" she waved a finger in front of his face. "You wouldn't want to spoil Naruto's little prank, would you?"

Another growl.

"What's that? You want to say something?" Akina smirked, then reached over and ripped the tape from his mouth.

"Ow!"

"Oh, I'm so sorry." she smiled sugar sweet. Revenge was such fun.

The dark haired boy moved so he was sitting on his knees and glared. "This isn't funny, now untie me!" He demanded.

The girl leaned closer and smiled cheerfully. "Not a chance!"

Sasuke struggled against the ropes again. "I swear, when I get out of here-"

Akina sighed. "You'll what?"

He growled again and tugged against the ropes.

The violet haired girl rolled her eyes "Oh, stop. You think I'm afraid of you?"

Sasuke just stared at her. "Why are you here, anyway?"

"Well, now that I have your complete attention and there's no one here to interrupt." she sighed again and sat down in front of Sasuke. "Why did you lie and say that Aunt Mai sent you out to find me last night? And why did you even bother to go out of your way to bring me home in the first place?"

The boy remained silent, his gaze turned away from Akina.

"Sasuke. Tell me." the girl demanded.

"Because I felt like it." he finally answered.

Akina blinked. "Because... you felt like it? What kind of reason is that?" She let out an exasperated sigh. "You know, I've tried really hard to just stay away from you-"

"I've noticed..." Sasuke interrupted, eyes cold and challenging.

"Don't you even dare to sound offended! It's your fault!" She snapped back.

"Yeah, okay. I get it..." He grumbled, shifting his position on the floor.

Both of them sat in silence for a long moment.

"You know what..." Akina spoke up, looking off into the distance. "Since we'll be on the same team, I guess we'll just have to tolerate each other."

Sasuke snickered. "I don't know if that's possible."

The girl frowned. "I'm inclined to agree..."

"So are you going to let me go or what?" He asked, sounding slightly annoyed.

Akina sighed. "Well…I suppose there's no telling when Naruto will come back…or if he'll even remember to come back…" she then took out a Kunai and easily cut though the ropes. "Though, honestly, you shouldn't need my help no matter how good Naruto is at tying knots."

After being released, Sasuke stood and silently walked toward the window.

"Hey! Where are you going?" she stood and chased after him.

"I'm going to find Naruto and beat the crap out of him!" he said before climbing out of the window.

 _Sheesh…guess I should follow him and make sure he doesn't kill the poor idiot…_

...

They didn't find Naruto, but they did find Sakura.

The pink haired girl was sitting on a bench, completely alone. She noticed Sasuke immediately and jumped up off the bench before strolling towards them. She started spouting nonsense about Sasuke returning and asking if he was "ready". Sasuke ignored her completely, glancing around the park.

"Its official, Haruno has finally lost it." Akina snickered, also glancing around. _Guess that means Naruto's already been here and left._

"What's she doing here?" Sakura pointed an accusing finger at the Mizuto girl.

"Didn't I tell you that it's rude to point?"

"Forget her. Where's that dick, Naruto?" Sasuke demanded.

"My guess is not here." Akina cut in with a shrug.

Sakura completely ignored the other girl and went on about how Naruto always comes between her and Sasuke. She crossed her arms and took on a smug expression. "It's because he was brought up without parents."

Now she had the full attention of both cousins.

"He doesn't have to answer to anyone and it's made him completely selfish." She went on about how if kids get in trouble their parents punish them so they won't do it again. "Kids without families always grow up selfish."

Sasuke was about to say something when suddenly a sharp "smack" reverberated through the trees. The boy blinked at the sight of Akina standing in front of Sakura, who was now sporting a reddening cheek. He hadn't even felt her move. The pinkette's head was turned to the side and her eyes were wide with shock.

"Don't you dare assume that you know anything about growing up without parents! You still have both of yours! Do you even have any idea how lonely it is? Naruto may do stupid things sometimes, but he's living all by himself, taking care of himself. He doesn't have a mother to cook for him or clean up after him. He doesn't have a father to help him train his Ninjutsu and tuck him in at night. It's just him. All alone." Akina held tears in her eyes, but she didn't dare cry. Not in front of such an ignorant twit. "If anyone here is selfish, it's you!"

With that said the Mizuto girl walked away, pressing past Sasuke, and headed back towards the school building.

Surprisingly, Sasuke had followed after her, leaving a very confused Sakura alone with her thoughts. Once Sasuke had caught up he grabbed Akina's arm, stopping her in her tracks.

"What?!" She snapped, keeping her face averted. She used her free hand to wipe at her eyes.

Sasuke grabbed onto her other hand, forcing her to look at him.

Her eyes were still filled with tears. Sasuke sighed.

"You... You actually hit her." He muttered.

"She deserved it." Akina replied venomously.

"Yeah." Sasuke leaned forward, pressing his forehead to Akina's. "I'm sorry."

"F-for what?" She felt a little uncomfortable; it had been a long time since the two cousins were so close.

"Doesn't matter." He remained there a long moment before letting go of her and stepping away.

"Sas-"

Just then Naruto came barreling around the corner, and, after almost bumping into Sasuke, the blond promptly fell over on his rear. "What are you doing here?!" the boy shouted as he pointed at Sasuke. He then spotted the violet haired girl standing next to the Uchiha. "Akina? I thought you said you wouldn't untie him?!"

The girl opened her mouth to explain. "But I—"

Sasuke suddenly stood over Naruto and smirked. "She didn't. It was a simple rope trick. Any good ninja is an escape artist. Try to keep that in mind…Loser."

Naruto didn't look happy. He made a hand sign and about five shadow clones appeared behind him. They were about to attack Sasuke, but suddenly they all stopped and ran away, shouting about the bathroom.

"What was that all about…?" Akina questioned.

Sasuke's eye twitched. "I don't even want to know."


	4. Is this really our Teacher?

Chapter four: Is this really our Teacher?

Sorry for the long delay; life became very busy. To apologize, I give you this extra chapter!

This was originally part of chapter three, but it was getting too long, so I split it up into two separate chapters.

Enjoy?

...

After the lunch break Akina and Sasuke returned to the classroom together. This had caused a slight stir among the other students since everyone knew the two were not exactly on speaking terms.

Akina picked a seat and Sasuke followed, sitting directly next to her. She didn't bother asking him to move away.

Naruto arrived a little while after. He glanced towards the cousins curiously as he passed by; heading towards the seat Sakura was occupying all by herself.

Akina heard him ask what the deal was with them sitting together, but the girl didn't give the boy any sort of answer; she didn't even look in his direction.

Eventually all of the Jonin mentors had come by the classroom to claim their teams, leaving team seven all alone.

Naruto had begun peeking out the door every two minutes, watching for their new sensei to arrive. "He's late!"

"Naruto! Just sit down!" Sakura scolded from the opposite side of the room; apparently she was feeling better.

Naruto grumbled on about how it wasn't fair that their team was the only one left and that everyone was probably already on some sort of adventure. "Even Iruka sensei's gone! I'm ready to roll, believe it!"

"He's got a point." Akina laid her forehead on the cool desk and sighed. "By the way, Naruto, never say 'believe it' again or I will smack you."

The only response she received was an unintelligible mutter followed by the sound of wood scraping against the tile floors. Sakura suddenly shouted again and footsteps were heard heading for the door.

The violet haired girl sat up and saw Naruto standing on a little table; he was sticking a chalkboard eraser between the sliding doors so that, when the door opened, it would hit the head of whoever was standing underneath. Sakura continued to scold him while Naruto argued that the teacher deserved it for being late, then he jumped down from the table.

Akina sighed. "Naruto…I rate that a two at best."

"Don't encourage him!" Sakura scolded.

Sasuke snickered. "Our teacher's a Jonin. You think he'd fall for that?"

"Even half the Genin here wouldn't fall for that." Akina muttered.

Just then a hand grabbed the door and started to open it. The four Genin all stared, waiting to see what would happen. A masked Jonin poked his face through the open door and the eraser came down, clunking him on the head in a cloud of chalk dust.

"Then again…that was more like a two and a half." Akina muttered, sending the Jonin a sour stare.

Naruto started laughing and pointed at the Jonin "I got him! He totally fell for it!"

Sakura walked up to the Jonin instantly with an apologetic look on her face. She spouted on about how she told Naruto not to do it and how she would never do such things herself.

 _What a suck up…_ Akina thought to herself. _And is this guy really a Jonin? You've got to be kidding me._

The Jonin picked up the eraser and put his other hand on his chin, looking as though he was smiling under the mask "Hmm…how can I put this? My first impression of this group…You're a bunch of idiots." he said, the smile never leaving his face.

The four Genin all looked at him sourly.

...

Their new Sensei took the group out onto rooftop with trees growing on it; he had said he'd wanted to talk to them in a more relaxing environment. There were three steps leading from an upper section of roof down to a balcony. Sasuke sat in the center of the top step, Sakura sat to Sasuke's right, on the next step down, Naruto was on the same step as Sakura to the left side of Sasuke, and Akina was on the bottom step, directly in front. Their new teacher leaned against the balcony rail.

The Jonin asked the kids to introduce themselves. Sakura, always with all the questions, asked what he would like them to talk about.

"Things you like. Things you hate. Dreams for the future. Hobbies. Things like that." He shrugged.

Naruto suggested that the teacher go first. Sakura agreed.

"Me?" He asked in fake surprise. "I'm Hatake Kakashi. Things I like and things I hate. …I don't feel like telling you that. My dreams for the future. …I've never really thought about it. As for my hobbies. …I have lots of hobbies." He shrugged lazily.

"Gosh... That sure was helpful, Sensei." Akina snorted, rolling her eyes.

Kakashi sent the girl a minor glare before asking Naruto to start them off.

"Me, right?!" the blond said as he played with his headband. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto!" The rest was just ramen, ramen, Iruka-Sensei, Ichiraku, ramen ramen ramen.

Akina snickered. _Naruto, I swear your brain is made from ramen…and then you would eat it…_

Then the blond said that his dream was to become Hokage. Kakashi seemed a little shocked at that. "My hobbies are…Pranks and practical jokes, I guess." The boy finally finished.

 _Well, that's Naruto for you._

After a short moment of contemplation, Kakashi pointed to Sakura and told her she was next.

"I am Haruno Sakura. My favorite thing is…well, it's not a thing, it's a person. A boy…and that boy is…" She looked over at Sasuke and blushed.

Cough "Sasuke." Cough

Sakura sent Akina a glare. "Uh…let's move on to my dream." She then blushed even more, making tiny squeaking sounds.

Cough "Sasuke!" Cough

Another glare. "My hobbies are…" She mumbled on while looking at Sasuke dreamily.

Cough "Sasuke!"

"Would you stop that?!" the pinkette shouted, her face now red with anger.

Akina stuck her tongue out at the other girl while Sasuke was just sitting there trying to hide his smile and a slight blush that had crept up onto his own face.

Kakashi seemed to be annoyed. "And…what do you hate?"

There was a slight pause. "Naruto and Akina!" She shouted.

Naruto looked devastated. Akina merely shrugged.

Kakashi cleared his throat. "Well, young lady, since you can't seem to keep quiet, why don't you go next?"

Akina straightened and smiled.

"My name is Mizuto Akina. I like animals and sweet foods. What I hate most is fan girls." This, of course, was pointed at Sakura. "My hobbies are reading and drawing. And as for my dreams for the future…well, no…I don't actually have one."

"Nothing at all?" Kakashi asked. "No aspirations or expectations for yourself?"

Akina scrunched her face. "No…it seems rather pointless, doesn't it? I was born and raised to be a Kunoichi, so obviously that is what I will be."

Sasuke snorted. Akina glared.

Kakashi sighed and looked to Sasuke. "Okay, fine…now for the last one."

Sasuke nodded "My name is Uchiha Sasuke." He drawled in that depressing mood that seemed to constantly surround him like a thick fog. He continued on about how he hates everything and doesn't believe in dreams and how he will restore his clan and kill someone.

 _Blah, blah, blah…_ Akina blinked. _Wait a minute… Restore the clan…how exactly?_

Kakashi nodded and crossed his arms. "I believe we all understand one another. Formal training begins tomorrow."

"There's something I certainly don't understand." The violet haired girl mumbled.

"And what is that, Akina?" Kakashi asked cheerfully. "Do you have a question?"

She hadn't thought anyone would hear her. "Um…well…no…that is…"

"What kind of mission are we going to have?!" Naruto interrupted excitedly, raising his arm in the air.

 _Thank you, Naruto! I'll share my lunch with you next time, I promise!_ "Yeah! That's exactly what I was going to ask! Thank you, Naruto!" Akina smiled, nervous sweat still lining her brow.

Naruto smiled back cluelessly. "No problem!" he then looked back up at Kakashi. "So, how 'bout it? What's our mission?"

"Our first project involves only the members of this cell." Kakashi replied without further explanation.

"What is it? What?" Naruto asked impatiently.

"Survival exercises." He answered simply.

"Survival exercises?" Naruto repeated.

 _Is there an echo?_

Sakura pointed out that their school days were full of survival training. Akina nodded in agreement.

"But you'll have to survive…against me. It won't be your typical practice." Kakashi explained.

Naruto urged him to elaborate and Kakashi merely started laughing.

"It can't possibly be that funny..." Akina muttered, giving their teacher a wary glance.

"It's just if I told you, then you might chicken out." He replied humorously.

"Try me." The girl challenged, staring him down.

Kakashi shrugged, but still held a smug look to his masked features. "Of the twenty-eight members of your graduating class, only nine or so will actually be accepted as junior-level Shinobi. The others must go back for more training. The test we are about to perform has a 66% rate of failure."

"What the heck? Not even half of our graduating class will pass?" Akina questioned, perplexed by such staggering odds.

Kakashi laughed again. "See? You're chickening out already!"

Naruto shouted about the graduation test and how they worked so hard to pass. Kakashi merely pushed it off as "Weeding out the failures", which, of course, angered the blond.

Akina thought for a while and it did make sense. Their school exam was far too simplistic.

"In any event, we'll meet tomorrow morning on the practice field so that I can evaluate each of your skills and weaknesses. Bring all of your Ninja tools and weapons. And don't have breakfast beforehand…unless you enjoy throwing up."

Kakashi pulled out some papers and handed them to the Genin. "The details of your assignment are in this handout, memorize it…and don't be late!"

"Throw up? How hard is this exercise going to be?!" Sakura panicked.

...

"Ours gave us the exact same spiel." Shikamaru snorted, flopping onto his bed. He laid his head on Akina's lap, staring up at her. "Hey. You're not worried, are you? Your practical exam scores rival Sasuke's and your written exams aren't too bad, either."

Akina shook her head, sending the feathery waves of violet hair into motion. "That's not what I'm worried about."

Shikamaru reached up, touching a strand of her hair. "Then what are you worried about?"

The girl sighed and glanced down at him. "I'm worried that my team won't act like a team. We don't get along at all. I don't know what they were thinking pairing the four of us up together."

"Good point." Shikamaru grimaced. "I wouldn't want to be in your shoes right now."

"Thanks..." Akina reached down and tugged on the boy's ponytail. "Jerk."

"Oww!" He slapped her hand away. "Come on, you know I was kidding."

"I know." She smiled wickedly then reached for the ponytail again, this time releasing the hair from the tie holding it up. Akina then proceeded to ruffle the boy's hair until it was a messy mop.

"Hey... Why don't you grow your hair out?" Shikamaru asked, still playing with the strand of hair he'd been touching before.

"It's a hassle to have long hair. This is much more manageable." She replied curtly.

He tugged her hair gently. "You and Sasuke appear to be getting along better, by the way."

Akina blinked down at the boy. She was always shocked by his mild possessiveness. Maybe it was because they were best friends. "Not really... He just started following me after..."

"After what?" Shikamaru sat up, staring her in the eyes.

Akina turned to stare out the window, watching rain pelt the glass. It had started raining just after dinner. "Sakura said something really nasty during the break. Worse than usual. I hit her."

The boy's eyes widened. "You hit Haruno? Congrats?"

The girl scoffed, pushing him off the bed. "Don't congratulate me for that, though she definitely deserved it."

"So violent." he chuckled, picking himself up from the floor. Akina tossed a pillow at his face.

The two tossed the pillow back and forth until there was a knock on the door. Yoshino opened the door, peeking her head inside. "Akina dear, will you be spending the night?"

"Oh! No... I should probably go home. I have to meet my team early in the morning." the girl replied.

"Alright. Have Shikamaru lend you an umbrella." the woman sent her son a warning glance before leaving.

The boy groaned and went downstairs to find an umbrella, returning a few moments later.

"Why, thank you. Such a gentleman." Akina giggled.

Shikamaru muttered something under his breath and handed over the umbrella and watched as Akina went to open the window. "Why don't you just use the front door?"

"What's the fun in that?" She smiled and stuck the umbrella outside, opening it up. "See ya." she waved and hopped out onto the roof, disappearing into darkness soon after.

Shikamaru sighed. "Such a frustrating woman."


	5. Kakashi's Test: Race for the Bells!

Chapter five: Kakashi's test: Race for the bells!

This chapter I completely rewrote, turning two chapters into one. Took forever.

Enjoy?

Disclaimer: If I owned it, then I wouldn't need to write fanfiction.

...

" _Of course, they just had to put me on Sasuke's team. And Haruno, too?_

 _Oh well, I'll make do._

 _Anyway, we ended up with the strangest Jonin teacher of all; the guy is a total head case!_

 _He wants us to meet him at the training field. We've already been through this, haven't we? And what's with this no eating rule?_

 _Guess we'll find out tomorrow."_

Akina put her pen and book back in the drawer and turned the light off.

...

The next morning

Akina's alarm clock went off for the millionth time; she slammed her hand down on the snooze button and rolled over. The time said 9:35 am.

"Ugh…it's way too early."

"Akina! Are you still in bed?" Mai called up the stairs. "Didn't you have to go somewhere with your team today?"

She shot up like a rocket. "CRAP!"

Minutes later she flew down the stairs and into the kitchen.

Mai looked up from the breakfast she was making. "Akina, are you-?"

The girl grabbed a muffin and her bento before running past. "Sorry, no time to explain!" Akina said as she ran out the door.

"…Late again?" the dark-haired woman sighed.

"Jeez, I shouldn't have stayed out so long at Shikamaru's last night. I sure hope I'm not too late!"

Ten minutes later Akina finally arrived at the training field. Sakura and Naruto were both sitting on the ground. Naruto was sleeping.

"Hey, guys!" She waved to them when she approached.

"You're late." Sakura mumbled sleepily, rubbing her eyes.

"Sorry…"

Sakura watched as Sasuke walked over to the violet haired girl intently.

"I guess Sensei's not here yet, huh?" Akina asked nervously.

"No…" the dark haired boy stared at her. "Why are you so late?"

She smiled and scratched the back of her head. "You know me…always late for something."

The boy merely snorted and scoffed away without reply.

"Akina! When did you get here?" Naruto asked in a sleepy tone.

She glanced to him and held up two fingers. "Um…about two minutes ago!"

The boy nodded. "Sensei's not here yet?"

Akina shook her head. "Nope, not yet. How long have you guys been waiting?"

"A long time." Sakura answered in exasperation.

Akina sighed.

...

It was quite some time before Kakashi showed his face. He strolled into the clearing like everything was rainbows and gumdrops, waving and smiling - or at least it looked like he was smiling.

"Good morning, class!"

Sakura and Naruto shouted that Kakashi was late while Akina and Sasuke remained quiet. Akina because she had been late as well and Sasuke... well, because he's Sasuke.

Kakashi led team seven to a part of the clearing where three stumps stood. he walked over and set an alarm clock atop the middle one. He explained that the alarm would go off at noon and pulled out two bells, which they were to steal from him before the alarm sounded or else they would not eat lunch. Instead they would be tied to a stump and Kakashi would eat it in front of them.

 _Oops... Good thing I ate that muffin on the way here._ Akina was internally relieved for her mental lapse.

Kakashi explained further that failing to get a bell meant failing the test altogether and that those who fail would be sent back to school. None of the Genin were comfortable with that idea.

 _Crap. If we can't work as a team and get those bells we are pretty much screwed. Going back to school at this point would be so embarrassing._ Akina bit her lip, not even paying attention when Kakashi continued to talk, as she contemplated the impending doom of being held back.

Suddenly Naruto moved and Akina turned to See Kakashi holding Naruto's head with one hand and his arm with the other, forcing the boy to hold a kunai to his own neck.

The girl blinked. _I didn't even sense him move until he was already there... Maybe this guy isn't as useless as he acts._

"I didn't say go." Kakashi chuckled. "But at least you struck to kill."

 _Is that what happened? I should really be paying attention._ Akina shook her head.

"Ready. Set. GO!"

Akina took off, hiding in a tree to gather her thoughts while keeping an eye on their sensei. "Okay, so clearly there is no way any of us could take him on our own. We will definitely need to work together... I just have to convince the others of that." she sighed, hanging her head. "I think that will be easier said than done."

Suddenly she heard shouting and saw Naruto down fighting with Kakashi in the clearing. The Jonin had a book in his hand. "Jeez, hasn't that boy learned his lesson yet? And what's with the book?"

She watched Naruto attack and Kakashi dodge like he didn't have a care in the world, just reading his book. Suddenly Kakashi was behind the boy with his hands in a sign.

"Wait... what is he do-"

And then shoved his fingers right up Naruto's...

"I really didn't need to see that..."

Naruto ended up in the lake and Akina took the opportunity to find Sasuke. Naruto was already a lost cause; her cousin was her best chance.

Sasuke was in a nearby tree, watching Naruto. Akina appeared beside him with barely a sound.

"What do you want?" The boy muttered without looking at her.

"I can't believe I'm about to say this, but…I think we should work together. Kakashi is a Jonin and we're just barely Genin; if we go against him as a team we stand a chance!" She whispered.

Sasuke snickered. "I didn't think you were so weak, Akina."

She growled back. "Look, I-"

Suddenly there was more shouting and a group of Naruto clones surrounded Kakashi.

"That stubborn idiot sure is holding his own down there." Akina smiled a bit. "Not hiding up here like us."

Sasuke turned to send her a glare. And again the two were distracted by the sounds of Naruto shouting. Down below there was a Naruto on Naruto brawl; no Kakashi in sight.

"Idiot." Sasuke sighed.

"At least he tried." Akina shrugged.

Sasuke then turned to face her fully, glaring venomously. "Look, I will admit that out of the four of us you and I are the only ones who stand a chance against him, so I will get my own bell and you can get yours."

"That is not the point here-" Akina started, but was interrupted by Naruto screaming again. "Oh, what now?" She huffed, turning to look.

Naruto was hanging upside down from a tree.

"Like I said: he's an idiot." Sasuke snickered.

"I can't argue..." She sighed.

Kakashi appeared again and picked up a bell from the ground.

"Obviously that was a trap..." The violet haired girl shook her head.

Sasuke glanced at her, looking annoyed. Then he suddenly threw kunai and shuriken towards Kakashi, hitting his face with perfect precision.

"Sasuke, what are you thinking?!" Akina whispered harshly, grabbing his arm.

But it wasn't Kakashi Sasuke had hit, it was a log.

"Substitution." The girl mumbled.

Sasuke stood suddenly, yanking his arm from her hold. "He deliberately acted like he was off guard…and I fell for it like an amateur!" With that, Sasuke jumped away, leaving the girl behind.

"That's nice, Sasuke! Leave a girl alone to fend for herself! Where's the chivalry?!"She shouted then looked around. "Kakashi's gone…" _…For now, anyway._

The girl jumped down to where Naruto was hanging from the tree. "Hey, Naruto! You need help?"

Naruto didn't seem to hear her as he took out one of his kunai to cut through the rope, muttering to himself. But as soon as he touched the ground another rope pulled him back up. "Not again!"Naruto flailed about. "Crap! He set a second trap right under the first one!"

"Oh, Naruto…" Akina sighed and shook her head.

"Huh? Akina? What are you doing down there?" Naruto questioned, having just noticed her.

She looked up and smiled. "You looked like you could use some help."

Naruto crossed his arms. "No, I'm fine. What about you? Shouldn't you try to get a bell?"

She started to open her mouth when suddenly she heard an ear-piercing scream. "Was that Sakura?"

"Hey, Akina! You can go help Sakura, I'll get myself down." Naruto said.

She looked up at him. "You sure?"

He nodded.

"Okay." She left Naruto and went toward where the scream came from.

Akina found Sakura passed out on the ground with foam bubbling out of her mouth. "Jeez, I know I refer to her as rabid all the time, but I never meant it literally." she knelt down next to the girl and looked her over.

"The second Ninjutsu skill – Genjutsu-the art of illusion. And Sakura fell for it." Kakashi said from behind her.

Akina didn't even bother to glance at him. "A bit much, Sensei."

He chuckled. "Well, maybe just a bit."

"It won't work on me." she turned then, smirking.

He seemed to give her a curious glance. "Is that so?"

She stood and turned around, her smirk growing into a slight grin. The girl then threw two kunai at his head, and he deflected them away with one of his own Kunai. Then six more flew at him from all directions, and he deflected them as well.

"I see Naruto's not the only one who's learned the multi shadow clone Jutsu." Kakashi mused as her three clones surrounded him.

"Don't worry, unlike Naruto, I know how to use more than one Jutsu at a time." she made lighting-fast hand signs and all three of her clones took hold of Kakashi's legs and arms. All three of the clones suddenly exploded into flames, engulfing Kakashi. A minute later the smoke cleared and Kakashi was nowhere to be seen.

Akina closed her eyes. "Bellow." she whispered.

A hand came up from the ground but she jumped up into a nearby tree before it could grab her.

"You won't get me that way, Sensei." she called down.

"Is that so?"

Kakashi was behind her. She turned instinctively. _Damn. He's quick!_

"To late." He chuckled and poked her headband with one finger making her lose balance and fall off the tree branch.

After a moment she stood up, rubbing her butt. "Ow. That was embarrassing."

Kakashi stepped up from behind her and sighed. "Well, it seems as if I've won."

Akina turned around. "Yeah, I guess. Oh! By the way…here!" she tossed something to Kakashi. He caught it and held it up in front of his face.

It was one of the bells.

Kakashi looked shocked, or at least as shocked as was possible for someone so emotionless. "When did you-?"

Akina smiled and winked. "That's only for me to know." She then stuck her tongue out. "You should've been paying better attention instead of reading your weird book!"

Kakashi ignored the comment as he tied the bell back with the other one. "But why give it back?"

She stepped back over near Sakura. "Wouldn't do me any good to keep it, would it, Sensei?"

Kakashi chuckled and walked away. "Well, I guess I'm off to find Sasuke then."

Akina pointed. "Sasuke's Chakra is that way, not too far off."

"I know." Kakashi smiled, or at least he seemed to, and disappeared.

She turned back to Sakura. "Genjutsu, huh?" she then made a few hand signs and placed two fingers on the girl's forehead.

Sakura's eyes opened slowly and she groggily sat up. "…I…" She stayed quiet a moment.

"Hey, there. You okay?" Akina asked with mild concern.

"Sa-suke! Don't die…don't leave me! Where are you?!" She shouted and looked around franticly.

Akina covered her ears "Sakura, calm down! Sasuke's fine!" _For now…_

"No! I have to find him! He's hurt!" Sakura said before running off.

The purple haired girl sighed. "I really gotta stop helping people." she ran to catch up with Sakura. And when she finally found her she was passed out on the ground again.

"What is she, a habitual fainter?"

"I believe she thought I was dead."

Akina turned to see Sasuke buried neck-deep in the ground. She suddenly burst out laughing. "The decapitated look really works for you, Sasuke."

Sasuke glared. "Very funny, now how about helping me out of here?"

"Hmmm? I didn't think you were so weak, Uchiha." she repeated his earlier words mockingly, hands on her hips.

Sasuke snorted and looked away. "Sorry…"

"What was that? I couldn't quite hear you from all the way down there." Akina spoke in a sickly sweet voice, holding a hand to her ear.

Sasuke glared. "I'm sorry I said that earlier, okay?!"

She smiled and walked over to him, crouching down to meet his gaze. "That's better! Okay, I'll help you."

After she dug Sasuke out he walked over to Sakura and tried to wake her. "Hey…Sakura."

"Oh! Thank you, Akina! You are so very kind for helping me, Akina! Jeez, where's the gratitude?" the Mizuto girl muttered. Sasuke ignored her.

Sakura woke slowly, blinking as she registered the face in front of her. "Sasuke! You're alive!" She then leaped onto the boy, wrapping her arms around him.

"Yeah… Fine… Okay… You can let go now!" Sasuke said as he tried to pry her off.

"Are you planning to make out in front of me?" Akina asked in a bored tone.

Sakura looked up and blushed, previously unaware that the other girl had been standing there.

After Sasuke got Sakura to let go he stood and began to walk off. "Time's running out. It's almost noon. I'm off."

Sakura stood as well. "Sasuke- do you honestly believe you can get one of those bells?"

"I got close enough to touch them…this time I'll take them."

"What?!" the two girls asked at once.

"Really! Wow… You're so amazing…" Sakura cooed nervously.

 _Guess it's a good thing I gave the bell I snatched back to Kakashi-sensei_. Akina thought.

The pinkette continued to stutter, telling Sasuke that there wasn't enough time left and that they could try again later.

Sasuke glared, making Sakura shut up. He turned back and she looked down sadly.

"Only I can kill him." Sasuke mumbled.

Akina looked up "Sasuke!"

"Who?" Sakura asked, ignoring the other girl. "You mean…Kakashi sensei?!"

"He made me…cry…" Sasuke went on.

Sakura looked at him sadly "You cried…?"

Sasuke was just staring off into space "My…"

"What…what are you talking about…!?" Sakura looked to Akina for answers, but the Mizuto girl only turned away.

"My only goal is to have my revenge. I have to become stronger than he is…now." Sasuke said in a determined voice.

 _Sasuke…_

Just then the alarm sounded.

"…Crap! I should have saved my breath." The boy muttered angrily.

...

Ten minutes later

The four Genin had returned to the stumps with Kakashi. And speaking of stumps, Naruto was tied to the middle one. Sakura was sitting to Naruto's left, Sasuke was on his right, and Akina was to Sasuke's right. Everyone's stomachs grumbled.

Kakashi stood in front of them, arms crossed. "Oh, my. Listen to all the little stomachs growl! By the way, you four… I have an announcement about this exercise." He stepped forward a bit "None of you need worry any more about being sent back to the ninja academy."

Naruto grinned "Yeah!" He and Sakura both started jumping around excitedly, though it was a little more difficult for Naruto, being tied to a stump and all.

"This rocks! It means all four of us…"

Kakashi smiled "…Are hopeless. More schooling would be pointless. None of you will ever be Shinobi!"

"Whaaat?!" Naruto shouted.

"Well, to the exception of Akina, that is." Kakashi motioned towards the violet haired girl.

Sakura and Naruto looked crushed as where Sasuke just sent said girl a death glare.

"But, Sensei. Why is it that Akina passed and the rest of us didn't?" Sakura asked. "She doesn't even have a bell!"

"As a matter of fact, Sakura, Akina did get a bell from me. Though, that is not the reason for her passing." Kakashi explained.

 _I didn't want everyone to know about it, Sensei…_ The Mizuto girl felt like sinking into the ground.

The other three genin looked at her in disbelief. Sakura turned back to Kakashi. "Then why?!"

"Because, unlike you three, she figured out the answer." Kakashi mocked.

Sasuke glared and suddenly ran to attack the Jonin. The two girls yelled after him.

In a matter of seconds Kakashi had Sasuke on the ground. Holding Sasuke's arm behind his back Kakashi stepped on his head and sat on his back. "What you are is a trio of spoiled brats…"

Sakura suddenly shouted at Kakashi, telling him to get off of Sasuke. Kakashi glared at her. "Are you trying to make fun of the Shinobi with your behavior? Well, are you? Did you even stop to wonder for one minute…why you were divided into teams?"

Sakura looked completely confused. "Uhh…excuse me?"

"Obviously not." Kakashi pressed Sasuke's face further toward the ground. "So you missed the entire point of the exercise."

"It had a point…!?" Naruto asked in obvious confusion.

"Of course. And that point determines whether or not you would succeed."

"But…you haven't explained what it is!" Sakura argued.

Kakashi looked annoyed. "…I don't believe this."

"Aw, come on already! Tell us!" Naruto shouted.

"…It's teamwork…" Akina muttered, sending the two a sideways glance. The other three genin all looked at her with shocked expressions.

"Exactly. If the four of you had come at me, together, you might have been able to take the bells." Kakashi confirmed.

Sakura suddenly had a look of realization. "If we were expected to function as a team, why did you only have two bells? Even if we'd worked together, two of us still would have had to go without lunch. You're preaching teamwork, but you played us against each other!"

"Of course. This task was designed to cause dissension in your ranks." He explained.

"Whaaat?!" Naruto shouted in outrage again.

"The situation was set up to reveal which of you would set aside your individual interests and propose to the others that you work together for the good of all."

Sasuke glanced up at Akina, finally understanding.

"Instead of which…You, Sakura, ignored Naruto and Akina, who were right in front of you, while you focused on Sasuke, though you didn't know where he was." Kakashi scolded.

Sakura seemed as though she'd been slapped in the face... again.

"Naruto tried to do single-handedly what should have been the work of all four!" Kakashi continued.

Naruto was very unhappy with this.

"And Sasuke…" Kakashi pushed Sasuke's face even further into the ground, making him wince in pain. "…Had already decided that the other three just got in his way and he was better off playing solo. You are a team! Learn to act as one! Yes, it's necessary for a ninja to have individual skills, but…what is even more important now is teamwork!" Kakashi reached into his bag. "Making a play as an individual is bad for the team and exposes your comrades to unnecessary danger. You might as well kill them yourself. …Here's an example…" Kakashi pulled out a kunai and held it to Sasuke's neck. "Sakura! Kill Naruto or Sasuke dies."

Sakura looked distressed.

"What!?" Naruto glanced back and forth between the two, horrified.

Kakashi stood up, releasing Sasuke. "The day could come when one of you may be taken hostage, and you're forced to make such a choice. When you are on a mission, your lives will always be on the line." Kakashi walked away toward a large square stone that was nearby and placed his hand on top of it. "Look at the marker…all the names carved in the stone. Heroes of our village. Ninja."

"That's it! I just made up my mind! There's where I want my name to go! I'm not gonna throw my life away! I want to be like them-a hero!" Naruto shouted excitedly.

Sasuke walked back over next to Akina, grunting at Naruto.

"Ahem! …But the ones listed there aren't just any heroes…" Kakashi said.

"Really? What kind are they?" Naruto asked, still excited.

Kakashi didn't answer.

"Come on! Come on!" Naruto insisted.

Akina looked at Naruto sadly. "Naruto…the ninja on the stone are K.I.A-Killed in action. They all died in battle."

Naruto's grin faded into a frown.

"This is a memorial. It includes the names of my best friends." After a moment of silence Kakashi turned to look at the four of them. "…Pay attention…! I'm giving you all one last chance. One that will be far more difficult than our last little game with the bells. If you're prepared to continue, you may eat one of the bento boxes. But no sharing with Naruto. He goes hungry."

"Why?"

"He brought it on himself when he tried to sneak lunch for himself. If either of you feeds him, you fail the test right there. And that includes you, Akina." Kakashi glared. "My word is law. Do you understand?"

With that said, Kakashi disappeared.

"Hey, this'll be a breeze. I can go without lunch…no problem." Naruto shouted, but was soon betrayed by his growling stomach.

Sakura and Sasuke sat down to eat, but Akina just looked down at her bento.

Naruto's stomach rumbled. Sasuke looked up at him with his chopsticks in his mouth. "Here." Sasuke said as he held his lunch out to Naruto, surprising him.

Sakura looked like her eyes were about to pop out of her head as she practically choked on her rice "Bu…but Sasuke, Kakashi Sensei told us-"

"I'm not worried. He's probably miles away by now. And we'll all need our strength if we're going to work together to get those bells." Sasuke then looked at Akina and her full box. "You too, Akina. You're no good to me if you're just going to be a liability."

Her cheeks turned a slight shade of pink. "…Sasuke…"

Sakura gulped down her mouth-full of rice before she stood and held her own lunch out to Naruto.

Naruto was even more surprised. "S-Sakura?"

The pink haired girl smiled and nodded.

Naruto was teary-eyed. "Okay, thanks."

"Don't thank me, just hurry up and eat." Sakura said.

"But isn't that your lunch?" Naruto asked.

"I'm on a diet anyway…Ah-I mean. I don't eat as much as Sasuke. So, just take it, Naruto!"

Naruto squinted. "I can't take it! Because I can't move my hands, you gotta feed me!"

Sakura's eye twitched. Akina rolled her eyes.

"Hurry up. He could come back any minute." Sasuke rushed.

Sakura grimaced. "This is one time only, that's it! I'm never going to do this again, is that clear?!" She shouted.

Naruto grinned. "Clear as a bell, Sakura!"

Sakura held the chop sticks full of rice up and Naruto ate it.

Just then there was a boom and a cloud of smoke swirled before them.

"What the!?"

Kakashi burst from the smoke. "YOU…"

Sakura and Naruto yelled in fear while Akina and Sasuke prepared to fight.

Kakashi glared. "You broke the rules. I hope you're ready for your punishment." he made many hand signs and the clouds turned dark and lighting flashed. "Any last words?"

Sasuke glared and Sakura was crumpled in fear. Naruto was shaking. "But you said…"

"Yes?" Kakashi asked.

"You said that there were four of us; that's what you said! And that's why Sakura and…" Naruto stopped.

Sasuke looked at him and nodded. "We're all in this squad, and we're all in it together!"

Akina nodded as well, smiling. "We're a team!"

Then Sakura sat up with a more confident look on her face. "Yeah, that's right! We gave our lunch to him because the four of us are one!"

Naruto still looked a little nervous. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah! Believe it! That's right!" He kicked about.

Kakashi stepped forward. "The four of you are one. That's your excuse?" After a minute he smiled. "Heh. You pass!"

"Huh?!"

They were all a little shocked.

"Ah…what'd you say?" Akina asked.

Kakashi was still smiling. "You…pass!"

"What do you mean? How'd we pass?" Sakura asked in shock.

"You're the first squad that ever succeeded. The others did exactly what I said and fell into every trap. They couldn't think for themselves. A ninja must see through deception. In the ninja world those who break the rules are scum. That's true. But…those who abandon their friends, are worse than scum." Kakashi said.

Sakura smiled.

Naruto got all teary eyed, "He's…he's, um…Kinda cool."

Akina smiled and laughed a little. "Maybe!"

Even Sasuke smiled.

"The exercise is now over. Everyone passes! Squad seven starts its first mission tomorrow!" Kakashi said while giving everyone the thumbs up.

"Yes!" Sakura cheered.

"I did it! I did it! Believe it! I'm a Ninja! Ninja! Ninja!" Naruto shouted happily.

Kakashi turned away. "Let's go home."

Akina, Sasuke and Sakura followed behind their new sensei.

Naruto started kicking and screaming. "Argh! You guys forgot to untie me!"

"You said 'believe it' again….twice!" Akina shouted back.

"Aww, come on! That's not fair!" the blond cried out, struggling even more.

The girl laughed as she ran back. "Just kidding~! H-hey, Naruto! Hold still!"


	6. No rest for the Weary!

Chapter six: No rest for the weary!

I would like to thank my reviewers. I'm glad to read how happy this story makes you. 3

This chapter is a bit short since it is sort of just fluff.

Enjoy?

Disclaimer: If I owned it, then I wouldn't need to write fanfiction.

...

Akina sat down on Shikamaru's bed, pulling his fat cat onto her lap. "Oh? So your team had to take that test as well, huh?"

Shikamaru shrugged and sat down next to her. "Yeah, guess so."

"A vague answer, as usual." she mumbled while petting the cat.

The boy laid back on the messy covers and placed his hands behind his head. "It wasn't a hard test."

Akina snickered. "Tell that to Sasuke."

Shikamaru sat back up, looking to the girl in surprise. "His highness had trouble with a test that easy?"

"His highness has a problem working with others." She replied, slightly annoyed. "Sakura and Naruto also failed."

"Jeez." Shikamaru flopped back down. "I'm really glad I'm not you."

Akina grabbed a pillow and smacked it down onto Shikamaru's face. The boy grumbled from beneath the pillow about how much it hurt. "I wish I had been placed into your team. I would even be willing to deal with Ino over this mess."

Shikamaru removed the pillow and rolled his eyes. "Is it seriously that bad?"

Akina nodded. "Yeah. None of us get along at all. It's impossible."

There was a long moment of silence, one Shikamaru was oddly uncomfortable with. "So... are you going to see Hinata?"

"Hmm? Yeah, probably."

"Want me to come with you?" Shikamaru asked

She stared at him. "What, and force you outta bed? I haven't got a chance!" she laughed.

Shikamaru grunted and turned away. "I'm serious."

Akina giggled a bit more. "If you want to I won't stop you."

Again the boy grunted. The girl stood and took a few steps away. "Coming or what?" she then turned and smiled down at him.

Shikamaru sighed. "Yeah."

Akina stuck her tongue out and walked over to the window. "Hurry up then, lazy bones!" she then jumped down.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes before following via the stairs.

Ms. Nara was outside sweeping in front of the door. "Leaving already, Akina? I'm making pickled plums and rice balls to go with dinner tonight."

The girl smiled and waved. "Sorry Ms. Nara. Shika's scolded me. He says all I do is eat whenever I'm here."

"Hey! When did I say that?" Shikamaru shouted from behind the girl, hands in his pockets.

Akina laughed. "Oops! I didn't expect you'd actually get out of bed!"

He glared down at the short girl.

"Well, gotta go." The girl waved, grabbing the boy's arm. "We're visiting Hinata."

"Come back later and I'll give you some pickled plums to take home." Ms. Nara called after her.

"Will do! Thank you, Ms. Nara!" she said as she walked off, dragging a disgruntled Shikamaru.

Shikamaru's mother smiled as she watched the two run off. "She's such a sweet child. Reminds me of myself when I was younger."

...

The two walked slowly on their way to the Hyuga compound, hand in hand. Akina watched all the people who were busy doing their daily things around the village. Shikamaru simply walked along, appearing to be bored. It didn't take long before they reached their destination and the girl stood there a moment before walking inside, carefully looking around to see if anyone was nearby.

"May I help you?"

Akina turned around quickly, smiling nervously at the young woman. "Um…is Hinata home yet?"

"Lady Hinata? She should be back soon." The woman replied politely.

"Thank you." Akina bowed to the Hyuga woman and walked away from the house. She sat down in a nearby patch of grass to wait for Hinata to come home. Shikamaru joined her on the ground. After only ten minutes the girl became bored. "I wonder what's keeping her?" she sighed and laid her chin on her knees.

"Maybe she's busy with her team. Not everyone has so much free time." Shikamaru replied with his own sigh. The girl elbowed him.

"Akina…?"

"Hmmm?" said girl looked up at the voice and jumped up in shock when seeing Hyuga Neji standing there, staring at her. "N-Neji…"

Shikamaru sent a glare towards the older boy, standing up and taking Akina's hand in his own.

Neji narrowed his eyes slightly at their reactions. "What are you doing here?"

Akina snorted. "We are waiting for Hinata… obviously."

The Hyuga boy continued to stare down at her, not so much as saying a word.

Unable to take it anymore she glared up at him. "Quit staring through me! That creeps me out!"

Neji closed his eyes and turned away. "You guard yourself well, as usual."

Akina growled and glared at him. Shikamaru grabbed her shoulder and held tight to her hand, stopping her from starting a fight. The last time she had fought Neji she had been in the hospital for a week.

"A-Akina?"

Akina, Shikamaru, and Neji turned to see Hinata walking toward them. She stopped short when she noticed Neji. "O-oh. H-hello…big brother, Neji."

"Lady Hinata." Neji gave a curt bow to his younger cousin. "I was just leaving."

Akina snickered. "Of course you were."

Shikamaru pulled on her hand. "Akina, let it go." He whispered harshly.

Neji gave the Mizuto girl a smirk as he walked past her. "Next time, Akina."

Hinata blinked. She was used to her best friend and her cousin fighting, but this time Neji seemed to have somewhere to be.

"Your middle name is trouble." Shikamaru scolded the violet haired girl.

Akina ignored her friend and smiled reassuringly to Hinata. "Hey! How did your team do?"

Hinata blinked again. "H-huh? My team? Oh! We had a test."

Akina laughed.

Afterwards the three sat down for tea, chatting about their respective tests and after that they talked about random things. It didn't take long before Shikamaru was falling asleep and his head ended up in Akina's lap. Hinata blushed every time she looked at them. Akina would giggle at her and absently pet the boy's hair.

"So how is it, being paired with Kiba and Shino?" Akina asked, sipping her tea.

"O-oh. They are very nice to me. O-or rather Kiba is nice to me and Shino is just quiet and keeps to himself." The Hyuga girl answered.

"That's good. So long as you can get along with them." Akina smiled. Hinata was like a little sister to her, so she liked to know that the girl would have good friends to watch over her. Apparently their sensei was also very kind.

The two continued to chatter, but something seemed to be eating at Hinata. "Hey... What's the matter?"

"O-oh... it's n-nothing." Hinata pressed her fingers together nervously.

"Come on. You can tell me anything, Hinata." Akina urged.

The dark haired girl looked away before speaking. "U-um... It's just... h-how is." She paused, blushing. "How is Naruto getting along?"

The Mizuto girl sighed in relief. It was just about Naruto. "Well... Naruto is Naruto. He's doing just fine."

"And... you and Naruto get along?"

Akina blinked at that question. "I would say we are buddies. We orphans need to stick together after all."

"I see... That's good. Naruto could use a friend." Hinata smiled.

"Naruto has more friends than he thinks he has." The violet haired girl giggled.

...

It was late when Akina and Shikamaru finally left Hinata's. The boy yawned like he hadn't been sleeping for half the visit.

"Do I need to carry you home?" Akina joked, elbowing the boy.

He pulled her hand, which he had been holding while they walked. "Nah."

She glanced at him curiously. "You're oddly silent."

"Just tired." He replied, though not very convincingly.

It wasn't long before they reached Shikamaru's house and Akina followed the boy in to retrieve her plums.

"I didn't think you'd forget." Ms. Nara smiled when she handed Akina a jar of pickled plums. "And in thanks of bringing my son back home safely." She also handed Akina three wrapped up riceballs.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes at his mother.

Akina laughed. "Well, thank you for the plums and riceballs, Ms. Nara. Aunt Mai will love them."

The woman smiled. "I hope so. Be sure and tell her I said hello, okay?"

"Right! No problem. Bye, Shika!" Akina waved and left.

Shikamaru waved back, watching her until she was out of sight.

His mother nudged him on her way back into the house, smiling knowingly.

Shikamaru just snorted and turned away, hiding the slight color on his cheeks.

...

Akina got back to the house a while after sun set. Sasuke was sitting outside on the doorstep.

"Hey, it's late. What are you still doing here?" The girl asked, feeling slightly annoyed at her cousin's recent habit of sticking around to wait for her.

Sasuke merely snorted at her. "You were late…Mai asked me to stay until you came back."

"Did she now?." The girl gave him a skeptical stare, then sighed, turning her gaze away from him. "Well, you didn't have to."

Sasuke stood and walked up directly in front of her. "What's that?" He tilted his head towards the riceballs and plums she carried.

"They are gifts from Shika's mom." She answered curtly, attempting to move around her cousin.

The boy merely blocked her path.

Akina glared. "Move, Sasuke."

The boy leaned forward, smirking, then he plucked one of the riceballs from her arms and passed her. "My reward for waiting up for you." He then stopped only a few feet behind her, turning to watch her reaction.

"Jerk!" Akina shouted before walking off into the house, leaving Sasuke to stare at the closed door.

Akina sighed once she reached the kitchen, setting the plums and riceballs on the counter. "I would have given you one anyway, you jerk..."

"Akina, is that you?" Mai called from the other room.

"Yeah! I have gifts from Shika's mom!"


	7. A new mission Begins!

Chapter seven: A new mission begins! Enter the Land of Waves!

This chapter was hard to re-write. There is so much necessary dialogue in these scenes it was difficult to cut out.

Hopefully it's not too terrible.

Enjoy?

Disclaimer: If I owned it, then I wouldn't need to write fanfiction.

...

 _"Kakashi sensei put us through the wringer at the testing grounds. But after learning a lesson in teamwork, we've been deemed worthy and are now full-fledged Ninja!_

 _Sasuke is still being his jerk self; big surprise there. I don't know what his deal is lately._

 _Well, I wonder what's next for us?"_

Akina closed her journal and turned off the light.

...

The four new genin of team 7 made their way through the woods quietly, making sure to stay out of sight, flitting from behind one tree to another.

"How far away is the target?" Kakashi's voice came in through headsets that each of the young ninja were wearing.

"Five meters and closing!" Sakura replied.

"How much longer are we gonna wait?!" Naruto asked impatiently.

"I'm in position." Sasuke announced, ignoring Naruto.

Akina sighed into the headset. "Guys... I'm serious. I don't think that-"

"All right! …GO!"

The four of them popped out from different directions, surrounding their target. Naruto jumped out and tackled the fat orange cat, holding tight. "GOTCHA!"

The feline screeched and writhed, attacking Naruto with its claws. After a moment Naruto lost his grip and the cat launched away.

"I told you... you can't treat a cat that way." The violet haired girl scolded.

"Has the target been obtained?" Kakashi's voice crackled through their headsets.

"We're... working on it." Sasuke replied slowly, glancing to Akina.

"Kakashi sensei, you need to be gentle with animals." Akina angrily added in her two cents.

There was a long pause before the headsets crackled again. "Alright, Akina. Take charge."

The girl nodded, sending Sasuke a triumphant smirk, before reaching into her hip pouch and pulling out a small snack bag. She opened the bag and shook the contents. "Here, kitty kitty. Here, Tiger."

The cat had been sitting near a tree, licking away the offending dirt from its struggle with Naruto. At the sound of the bag its ears perked; the cat turned to Akina, eyeing her warily.

"You hungry?" The girl knelt down and pulled one of the dried fish from the package, wiggling it out in front of her. "Come on."

Tiger sniffed the air and slowly stepped closer to the girl. She held the fish out in her hand and allowed the cat to go at its own pace. The cat sniffed and watched Akina, making sure she wasn't going to jump on him like Naruto had. Eventually Tiger took the fish, nibbling happily.

"Good kitty." Akina slowly reached out to scratch behind the cat's ear, which the cat happily allowed.

"Wow! You're really good at that, Akina!" Naruto said in amazement.

The girl turned to see the other three watching her with wide eyes, She giggled. "All you have to do is give them food and scratch behind the ear, all cats are like that."

Sakura stepped over and knelt down to slowly scratch Tiger behind the ear as well. "Aww, he's really gentle; listen to him purr!"

Naruto moved at least five feet away. "Gentle, my ass."

"Come on, we have to get back." Sasuke ordered.

"Sir, yes, sir!" Akina saluted mockingly.

The raven haired boy just snorted and walked away.

...

After bringing the cat back to the assignment office they handed him over to his owner. Once again the poor thing was screeching it's head off.

"Poor Tiger…good little kitty-kitty…I was so worried about you, I could have died!" Lady Shijimi cooed as she smothered the poor cat.

"Poor Tiger is right. It's no wonder he ran away." Akina muttered. Sakura nodded in agreement.

"Now, the next assignment for Kakashi's team seven will be…Hmm…to baby sit for the council of elders. To run errands to the neighboring village. To help dig sweet potatoes…" Lord Hokage read off a list.

"No way!" Naruto shouted before going on about how all their missions were boring and how he wanted better ones while waving his arms in an X motion.

Akina sighed. "He does have a point."

"Don't be a fool! You're only a beginner!" Iruka shouted from beside the Hokage. "Everyone starts out doing grunt work. It's where you get experience, so you can work your way up to the bigger things."

"We've done tons of small stuff. Can't we get some action?!" Naruto shouted back.

Kakashi bonked Naruto on the head. "Naruto, that's enough. Knock it off!"

"Apparently Naruto needs an explanation of just what these duties are…" Lord Hokage muttered. "You see..." and thus began a long speech about the different ranks of Shinobi and how missions are sorted by rank based on difficulty. Blah. Blah. Blah.

"I had pork ramen for lunch yesterday…so I think I'll have miso ramen today." Naruto rattled off.

Akina nodded. "I always get the pork, but Miso is good, too. I like it with extra bamboo and egg."

"That's too much bamboo..." The boy replied, scrunching his face.

"Bamboo is good for you." She argued.

"Are you listening?!" Lord Hokage shouted.

Akina rolled her eyes.

Kakashi scratched the back of his head. "I…I'm sorry."

"I don't want to hear it!" Again Naruto shouted about how they should be given better missions because he wanted to prove himself as a good ninja.

"You know he won't give up until you give him something he can exert some energy on." Akina shrugged.

Kakashi sighed. Iruka looked shocked at first, but then he smiled. Lord Hokage smiled as well, then nodded. "Very well, since you put it that way, I will permit you to attempt a C-rank mission-usually reserved for Chunin ninja… The protection of a certain individual…"

They were all a little shocked to hear this, even Kakashi.

"All right! Who is it? Some great lord? The Daimyo!? A princess!?" Naruto asked excitedly.

"Seriously, Naruto?" Akina rolled her eyes again.

"Compose yourself. I'll perform the introductions straightaway. Please invite him in…" Lord Hokage ordered.

The door slid open, and in walked a big, gruff looking old man with glasses; he was also carrying a bottle of something.

 _I'm fairly certain that isn't juice..._ Akina eyed the bottle suspiciously.

"What's going on here? They look like a bunch of wet-nosed brats." The old man took a swig of his bottle. "Especially the midget. He's got the face of an imbecile. It's a joke right? You kids aren't really ninja, are you?"

Naruto laughed and looked between himself and his three companions. "Who'd you mean? Which midget? Which imbeci…?!" He stopped.

The other three all stood next to him. Sasuke was the tallest at 5 foot even. Sakura was second at 4'11". And, even though Naruto and Akina were equal at 4'9", Akina stood up on her tip-toes, appearing taller, thus making Naruto the shortest of the group.

"I'LL KILL HIM!" Naruto shouted as he launched toward the old man.

Kakashi grabbed Naruto by the shirt, stopping him from attacking their new client. "Wrong. No killing the old man you've been assigned to protect."

"Ya sure?" Akina snorted, earning herself a glare from Kakashi.

"I am Tazuna, a bridge builder of ultimate renown… Until I am safely back in my own country, where I'll be completing my next bridge, you'll all be expected to protect me. Even if it costs you your lives!" the man said.

"Bossy old guy, isn't he?" Akina whispered to Sakura, who nodded in reply.

"It's settled then." Kakashi said in mock cheerfulness. "You four go home and pack what you need; we'll meet up at the village gates."

The four genin all nodded, though Naruto was most unhappy, and left.

...

At home

"Oh! This is so cool! Little Aki's first C-rank mission! I know! Let me get the camera!"

"No camera! And stop calling me 'little Aki' it's really embarrassing!" Akina huffed as she struggled to pack her tool bag.

"Why not? It's your first mission away from the village, and I want a picture." Mai pouted.

"You act like such a little kid. And don't you have missions of your own?" the girl scolded her.

Mai sighed dramatically. "Little Aki is just no fun at all. And besides, I like my counseling job better than going on missions anyway."

Akina stuffed the last of her tools and her journal into the pack and sighed. "Fine, whatever, but I have to go. The others are waiting for me." she slung the pack over her shoulders and headed for the door.

"Oh! Akina, wait! There's something I'm supposed to give you!" Mai quickly ran out of the room.

"What now?" the girl asked, exasperated. She didn't want to be late for her first C-rank mission.

The young woman came back a few moments later, carrying a long object that was held in a violet cloth case.

Akina's eyes widened "That's-!"

"Tsukikage, your father's Nodachi." She removed the deep purple cloth covering, revealing a beautifully decorated sword. The blade itself was as long as Akina was tall and the handle and guard reached over her head. Despite the size of the sword, it was actually quite light, making the Tsukikage an extraordinary piece of weaponry.

The blade was made of the finest metals and fired to perfection, an intricate carving of moon flowers and vines came from the guard, snaking their way along the sleek blade. The guard itself was silver and in the shape of a Tsubaki, with carvings of its delicate petals in the metal. The fabric that criss-crossed the handle in a diamond design was the same deep violet color as the covering that had been over the sword earlier and the silver underneath had more carvings of moon flowers.

After a moment Mai handed the beautiful sword over to the girl "I was told to give Tsukikage to you when you received your first C-rank mission. I really didn't think it would be so soon." She sniffed and held back tears that threatened to flow "It doesn't have a proper scabbard, though. You're father ended up breaking the original and never was able to get a replacement made."

Akina nodded. "It's okay. I'll just use the harness for now." She then removed her pack and picked up the cloth case, pulling out a strapped harness with special locking mechanisms on the back. "Can you help me put it on?"

Mai nodded and assisted Akina with putting the harness on, then clicked the long sword into the locks on her back. "You know how it works, right? If you press the button here the locks will release." she pointed to a hidden button on the front of the harness.

"Got it." Akina nodded.

"Be careful." The woman said, still trying her best not to cry.

"Jeez, don't worry! I'm a Genin now! A full-fledged Kunoichi! I can take care of myself."

Mai smiled and sniffled again, wiping away a few stray drops of the salty liquid. "Okay, okay, I understand. I remember my first mission outside the village." The dark haired woman sighed dreamily. "I was so excited!"

Akina smirked up at her. "Just…don't burn the house down while I'm gone, kay?"

Her guardian huffed and crossed her arms. "Really, now! Don't you think I'm just a bit more responsible than that?"

"Sure, sure!" the girl picked up her pack, waved and turned to leave.

"Good luck!" Mai smiled and waved back, watching the violet haired girl as she stepped out the door. "And please be safe."

...

Only a few minutes later Akina met up with the others at the village gates, her pack and new sword 'n-tow. "Hey, guys!"

"Took you long enough." Sasuke complained, then froze when he looked up at her.

She stuck her tongue out at him. "It's not my fault; Aunt Mai wouldn't leave me alone." She didn't bother mentioning the sword that was strapped to her back, which the raven haired boy was now staring at in wonder.

"Woaaah! Cool sword! It's taller than me!" Naruto ran around the girl in a circle.

"Where did you get that, Akina?" Sakura questioned, eyeing the large sword warily.

Akina smiled and grabbed Naruto's shoulders, stopping his constant circling. "It's been passed down in my family for generations."

Kakashi stepped forward curiously. "Akina, are you certain you can handle such a weapon? Though I doubt you would even need to worry about it during such a mission."

"It's tradition, Sensei. And I've been trained to use a sword since I was only three years old." She replied proudly.

"Well, you certainly are full of surprises." Kakashi appeared to smile. "Alright. Time to leave." He turned and led the group towards the gates.

The gates opened and Naruto threw his hands up in the air once he was on the other side of the village walls "All right! Road trip!"

"What are you babbling about?" Sakura asked.

"This'll be the first time in my life I've ever been outside of the village!" Naruto said while looking around excitedly.

"Really? I guess your first time outside is a little exciting." Akina said distantly.

"Whaaat?! Does that mean you've been outside the village before, Akina?" Naruto asked, bouncing excitedly.

She nodded and glanced to Sasuke who was walking rather close to her; their elbows were nearly touching. "Yeah, a few times…with my father." She then looked down sadly.

"Really?! That's so coooool!" Naruto laughed.

"Am I really expected to place my life in the hands of this fool?" Tazuna asked, nodding towards Naruto.

Kakashi sighed. "There's no call for concern. I'm an elite ninja, and I'll be along, too…"

Naruto scrunched up his face and pointed at Mr. Tazuna "Listen, you old geezer! You don't mess with ninja. Especially not a really good one like me! In fact, I'm gonna be the next lord Hokage! So remember my name. It's Uzumaki Naruto." He shouted proudly.

"There he goes running his mouth off again..." Akina rolled her eyes at the boy.

Mr. Tazuna put the bottle he carried to his lips. "Hokage, eh? I don't think someone like you has it in him."

"Well, you're old and stupid!" Naruto shouted. "I am doing all the right things, and I'm doing them fast."

"Not really, Naruto." Akina sighed, shaking her head.

The boy grumbled but otherwise ignored the girl "And when I become Hokage, you're gonna wish you were a lot more respectful to me right now!"

Tazuna took a drink from his bottle. "Respect you? I don't think so. Not even if you become Hokage."

Naruto's eye twitched. "YOU ARE DEAD!"

Kakashi held Naruto by the shirt "I said no, you little dunce."

With Naruto under control they continued on their way to the land of waves.

"Um, Mr. Tazuna…?" Sakura asked nervously.

"What now?" Tazuna snapped.

"You come from the land of waves, right?"

"Yeah, What of it?" He answered.

"Um…Kakashi sensei…. Are there ninja in that country too?"

"No. Not in the land of waves. But, as a general rule, even with all the differences that exist in local customs and cultures, most other lands have their own hidden village where a ninja clan resides." Kakashi then explained about the different countries, hidden villages, and their Kage leaders, which he surmised to being the greatest and most powerful leaders in the world. Blah. Blah. Blah.

Akina sighed sleepily. _Even Kakashi sensei likes giving long, boring speeches._

"Really? Lord Hokage is so amazing!" Sakura cooed like an idiot.

"You obviously don't really think so." Kakashi said.

The four Genin stopped in their tracks.

"There's nothing to worry about. You won't face any duels with ninja from other clans while you're handling C level duties." Kakashi smiled.

"So I don't have to worry about encountering any foreign Shinobi…?" Sakura asked.

"Of course not!" Kakashi laughed and patted Sakura on the head.

Even though the mood was light, Mr. Tazuna looked tense. Sasuke seemed to notice it as well.

Akina turned to the Uchiha boy. "What's his problem, you think?"

He merely shrugged. "Who knows, but I think we should keep our guard up."

The girl nodded in reply.

Naruto was jogging up next to Sakura who was in the front of the little group, Sasuke and Akina took post near Mr. Tazuna in the middle, while Kakashi took up the rear.

Ten minutes later there was the clanging of chains behind them and everyone turned to see Kakashi wrapped up in what appeared to be chains made from Shuriken that were attached to the gauntlets of two ninja.

"Sensei!" The four genin exclaimed in shock.

The two ninja tugged and Kakashi was shredded before their eyes and before anyone knew it the two ninja were behind Naruto.

Akina turned. _So fast!_

Sasuke jumped and pulled out a shuriken and kunai. He threw the shuriken, which hit the chain and nailed it to a tree. He then threw the kunai into the hole of the shuriken, locking both the shuriken and chain in place.

The two ninja tried to pull it free and failed.

Sasuke landed on the outstretched arms of the two ninja and, while standing on his hands, kicked the two in the face, knocking them back. The two ninja recovered quickly and, after releasing the chains from their gauntlets, split up. One went after Naruto again and the other went after Mr. Tazuna.

Akina took out one of her kunai and stood in front of Mr. Tazuna "Sakura, quick!"

Sakura stood next to her, also with kunai "Stand back, sir!"

Just as the Ninja were about to strike, Sasuke stood in front of the three of them.

And, in the blink of an eye, both ninja had been grabbed and knocked out by…Kakashi!

"Kakashi sensei…you're alive!" Sakura squealed.

Akina looked over to where he had been standing when the two ninja attacked, and there was nothing but a pile of sliced up wood. _He used substitution…_

"I'm sorry, Naruto. I should have moved to help you sooner…before you were injured. It never occurred to me that you would freeze up." Kakashi said.

 _Injured?_ The violet haired girl looked to Naruto; he had a cut on his hand.

"Good job, Sasuke. You too, Akina, Sakura." Kakashi nodded to each of them.

Sasuke turned and smirked at Naruto. "Hey… Are you okay…you big chicken?"

"Sasuke! That's not fair; it was Naruto's first real battle!" Akina scolded.

Naruto looked like he would attack Sasuke.

"Naruto! There's no time now for fighting. Their claws were poisoned. We have to clean that wound as soon as possible. If we cut it open more deeply, the blood flow will wash the poison away. For now, keep as still as possible, so the poison doesn't spread."

Naruto just stood there and glared at his cut hand.

Kakashi then turned to Tazuna. "Mr. Tazuna."

Tazuna jumped, startled. "Wha… What is it?!"

"I need to speak with you." The Jonin said slowly.

...

Kakashi had tied both of the ninja to a tree. "Our attackers appeared to be Chunin level ninja of the Kirigakure clan-mist ninjas." He glanced back at Akina.

She flinched. _Ninja from the mist…_

Kakashi explained that Mist ninja would give up their own lives to complete their mission and that there shouldn't have been puddles because it hadn't rained recently.

 _I should have sensed them ahead of time, but I had no clue…_

"If you knew all that, why did you even let those creeps attack you?" Mr. Tazuna asked.

"I could have killed them at any time… But…I wanted to find out who their real target was." Kakashi answered with a sideways glance.

Tazuna stared at him, confused. "What do you mean?"

"Were you really the one they were after? Or was it one of us ninja?" Once again Kakashi glanced to Akina, then back to Mr. Tazuna. Kakashi pointed out that Tazuna had not reported that his life was in danger.

Tazuna looked down in shame.

"But if you expected to be the target of a ninja assault then it is beyond question that this would have been classified-and priced-as a mission for elite ninja. You may have had your reasons, but it's never a good idea to conceal the facts when you are asking for help. As it is, this task falls beyond the boundaries of the job we were assigned."

"We're not good enough yet to handle something like this… Can we quit? We'll need an anesthetic for Naruto's wound before we can re-open it and drain the poison. Can't we return to the village and have a doctor look at it?" Sakura asked.

Akina looked at her in disbelief. "What? Are you kidding?"

Kakashi hummed and looked up lazily. "This is…complicated. Do we go back now so we can make certain Naruto receives medical attention?"

Before anyone could say anything more Naruto took out a kunai knife and stabbed his wound, making the cut deeper.

"Naruto, what are you- No! Stop that!" Sakura shouted.

"Idiot!" Akina Rushed over to the boy.

Naruto just stood there. "With this kunai knife, I promise you, I will protect the old man." He turned and looked back at everyone "Reporting fit for duty, sensei!"

"Naruto, we needed a free flow of blood to clean the poison from your wound… But you've exceeded the need… You could bleed to death. I'm serious." Kakashi smiled as he walked over to the blond, pressing Akina out of the way.

Naruto then began to freak out, screaming about how he didn't want to die.

"Just like Naruto to do something stupid and reckless." Akina shrugged.

"Show me your hand." Kakashi said calmly.

"I don't wanna die! Save me!" Naruto cried.

"What are you, Naruto? Some kind of masochist?" Sakura asked mockingly.

Kakashi ignored the two of them and started wrapping Naruto's hand.

Akina walked over next to Sasuke, crossing her arms over her chest. "So dramatic." she sighed.

He glanced over at his cousin, bumping his elbow into hers. She looked up at him, blinking in confusion. He averted his eyes, pretending he hadn't done anything.

"It's all right, isn't it…?" Naruto asked, tears streaming down his face. "I mean…you know…"

"It looks like you'll be fine…" Kakashi replied, sounding unconcerned.

Tazuna stepped closer to them "Mr. …Mr. Sensei, sir…"

Kakashi turned to look at him.

"I…have something I need to say…"


	8. Battle in the Mists!

Chapter eight: Battle in the mists!

I just want to say that battle scenes are hard to write. I hope everything is clear enough to understand t least.

Enjoy?

Disclaimer: If I owned it, then I wouldn't need to write fanfiction.

...

Mr. Tazuna had a boat ready when they reached the edge of the fire nation's land, right at the shore of the ocean.

"Oh, cool! I get the front! Woo-hoo!" Naruto cheered, thrusting a fist in the air.

"Keep quiet, Naruto!" Sakura scolded.

"Idiot." Sasuke mumbled.

Akina stepped up next to the water's edge. "Kakashi sensei."

"Hmm…?" Was his distracted reply.

"Is this such a good idea? The water, I mean. The others were from Mist, it's likely-…"

"There's nothing to worry about, Akina." He said in an overly cheerful tone.

 _I'm worried…_ she thought as she gazed back down at her purple reflection.

After a while of preparation everyone climbed into the boat and they set sail.

Naruto was sitting up front, Sakura behind him, Akina and Sasuke were sitting behind her, then Kakashi sensei, Mr. Tazuna, and in the back was the oarsman.

As they made their way farther from the land a thick fog settled in, unnerving Akina quite a bit.

"Wow. This is some fog. I can barely see a thing." Naruto said.

"We'll be able to see the bridge in a minute. On the other side of it is Nami no kuni: the land of the waves." The oarsman announced.

They waited and watched. At first it was just a big, dark blur, but then they could see it almost clearly. The biggest bridge any of the Genin had ever seen.

"Whoa! It's huuuuge!" Naruto shouted.

"Hey! Keep it down!" The oarsman scolded. "This mist'll keep us hidden. But from this point on, we have to turn off our engines and row. We'd be in big trouble if Gato caught us."

Naruto slapped both hands over his mouth.

 _Yeah, that Gato guy Mr. Tazuna told us about earlier. He sounded like a real winner..._ Akina narrowed her eyes at the memory of the story.

"We'll be there soon!" The oarsman announced. He mentioned that it appeared as though they had been overlooked and that they would be taking an inland waterway through mangroves. Tauzuna thanked him for his help.

They rowed through one of the many waterways that ran under the town. On the other side were the mangroves, trees that looked like they just floated on the water.

"Oh… Wow!" Naruto exclaimed.

"It's amazing!" Sakura said in awe.

"Yeah! So beautiful!" Akina agreed.

Sasuke just turned his head and grunted. "It's just a bunch of trees."

The violet haired girl huffed and turned to glare at her teammate. "You're such a pain!"

Kakashi sighed behind them.

They sailed through the floating forest until they came upon a back alley dock and the oarsman let everyone off. The oarsman announced that he would be leaving them, and warned the group to be careful. Tazuna thanked him again, saying it had been a lot to ask of his friend. The oarsman merely waved and rowed away.

"Okay! Now if I can just make it home in one piece…" Tazuna started in.

"Yeah, yeah." Kakashi sighed exasperatedly.

"This is going to be a long trip." Akina sighed as well.

Naruto was playing leader. Sasuke walked up along side of him while the rest were behind. Suddenly, Naruto threw a shuriken into the bushes and shouted. After being startled everyone stared at the bushes for a moment. Nothing happened. Naruto wiggled his headband "I…uh, guess it was only a mouse."

"What mouse?" Akina muttered.

"Are you out of your mind? There was nothing there, you moron!" Sakura shouted at him.

"Please… Please don't play around with your shuriken. They can be just a teensy bit dangerous!" Kakashi scolded mildly.

"Hey! Midget! Don't go scaring us! Stop messing with our heads!" Tazuna shouted.

"Honestly, Naruto. You're going to attract attention." Akina said calmly.

"I think I might have seen someone!" Naruto said while looking back and forth.

Akina sighed, shaking her head. "I don't think he was even listening."

"This time! Over there!" Naruto shouted again as he threw another shuriken.

"I told you to quit it!" Sakura bopped Naruto on the head.

"I swear-! There was someone in there! After us!" Naruto defended, holding his abused head.

"You are such a liar." Sakura shot.

Kakashi sensei walked over and peeked through the bushes. Akina and Sakura fallowed. There was a little white rabbit on the ground, looking as though it had been scared half to death. Of course, that was understandable, since the shuriken Naruto threw was stuck in a tree only an inch above its head.

"Naruto! Look what you did!" Akina scolded. "You need to treat animal's kindly."

"Just a rabbit?!" Mr. Tazuna asked.

Naruto picked up the rabbit and hugged it. "It was an accident. Snap out of it, bunny! Please!"

"The poor thing. There's just no accounting for Naruto's destructive power." Akina sighed.

"Everyone take cover!" Kakashi suddenly shouted.

Sakura pushed Naruto to the ground and Sasuke pulled Mr. Tazuna out of the way while Kakashi and Akina both ducked when something big flew over their heads. It was a halberd sword which stuck into the same tree the rabbit had been under. Everyone looked up to see a man standing on the hilt of the sword. He had wrappings on his face, no shirt, and he was wearing camouflage leg and arm covers.

"Well… If it isn't Momochi Zabuza, the kid who ran off and left the land of the mists." Kakashi announced.

Akina flinched. _Zabuza? The wielder of Kubikiri Hōchō?_ She stared at the halberd that was stuck in the tree. Including the hilt it was longer than her nodachi by nearly a half and the blade was almost two feet wide.

Naruto started to run forward but Kakashi held out his hand, stopping him. He told the genin not to interfere because this ninja was much stronger than the others had been. Kakashi reached up for his headband. "And if I have to face him, it had better be like this… This may be a little rough."

"Kakashi of the Sharingan eye, I presume?" Zabuza asked. "If it wouldn't be too much trouble, could you surrender the old man?"

"Sharingan?!" Akina stared wide-eyed at her sensei.

"Assume the Manji battle formation! Protect Mr. Tazuna… All of you stay out of the fight. That's the kind of teamwork this situation demands." Kakashi ordered. "And now…Zabuza…" Kakashi pulled his Hitai-ate up to reveal his left eye. A red, scared, Sharingan eye. "Shall we?!"

 _It is Sharingan! But how?_

"Ahh… To face the Sharingan so early in our acquaintance. This is an honor." Zabuza cooed.

"Hey! What the heck is a Sharingan, anyway?!" Naruto asked.

Sasuke stepped forward to explain that sharingan copy and reflect the jutsu that are used against them. "And there's more."

"Like what?" Naruto asked.

Zabuza laughed. "Exactly. There is indeed more." Zabuza explained that the Sharingan is very accurate at duplicating jutsu and that the assassin's bingo-book lists an extensive record of Kakashi's abilities. "The man who had penetrated and copied over a thousand different techniques. …Kakashi the copy ninja."

 _That still doesn't explain how Kakashi has a Sharingan. Only a small number of the Uchiha clan can possess it._ Akina thought. _Is it possible that Kakashi sensei could be…?_

"Enough. Pleasant as this conversation has been…the time for talk is over. I'm on a very tight schedule to polish off the old man."

With that said the four genin took their places in front of Mr. Tazuna. Naruto was on the left, Sakura was on the right, and Akina and Sasuke were in front; all with kunai in hand.

"But…Kakashi…it looks like I'm going to have to kill you first." Zabuza then kicked off the tree, dragging his sword along with him.

He jumped right over Kakashi, the Four Genin, and the bridge builder and landed on the water that was alongside the pathway they had been walking on.

Akina turned and saw him standing on the water, holding his hands in a Jutsu sign. _That Jutsu…_

Water and mist swirled around him. "The finest of the ninja arts…" Zabuza said before disappearing into the mists.

"Kirigakure…Jutsu…" Akina whispered. Sasuke glanced at her.

The only thing left standing on the water was one single leaf. "He's gone!" Naruto and Sakura both shouted.

Akina began to step forward. "Kakashi-sensei…"

He held his hand out. "Stay where you are. He will come after me first… " He explained that Momochi Zabuza was a master of silent killing. "I haven't necessarily mastered every aspect of the Sharingan eye… So all of you stay on your toes."

The tension in the air was almost as thick as the fog surrounding them. "What's with all this fog?" Naruto asked in frustration.

"It's Kirigakure Jutsu. Also known as 'Hiding in mist Jutsu.'" Akina explained "It's a Jutsu used to kill without being seen. Created by the assassins of the village hidden in the mist."

"You sure know a lot about it, Akina." Naruto muttered in wonder.

She nodded. "My father told me about it."

"Smart girl. I can strike at any angle, from any direction." Came Zabuza's eerie voice. "There are eight targets…"

"Yeah, yeah. Throat, spinal column, lungs, liver, the jugular vein, the subclavian artery, kidney, and heart." Akina listed for him, feeling annoyed.

Zabuza's laugh echoed all around them. "Smart and cheeky."

The mist was so thick that they could barely see Kakashi in front of them. But Akina could feel his Chakra, and, by the way everyone else was shaking, they could feel it, too. The air was thick with blood lust. Sasuke seemed to be shaking worse of all. Akina noticed his grip tighten on his kunai. She laid her free hand over his shaking one. "Sa…"

"Sasuke."

Sasuke stopped shaking and looked up at where his Sensei stood.

"Calm down. Even if he gets me, I'll still protect you." Kakashi turned and smiled. "I will…never let my comrades die!" Everyone seemed to calm at hearing that.

"I wouldn't bet on that…" And before any of them could sense it, Zabuza was between the Genin and Mr. Tazuna. "Game over."

Kakashi ran in, knocking the others down and stabbing Zabuza in the process. No one moved for a while; just stared at Kakashi and Zabuza standing in front of them. But then another Zabuza appeared behind Kakashi, swinging his sword.

"Kakashi sensei! Behind you!" Naruto shouted in warning.

The Zabuza Kakashi had stabbed turned into water and splashed to the ground. The second Zabuza cut right through the Jonin, but Kakashi turned to water as well.

"Water clones!" Akina mumbled. "He really did copy the jutsu."

Kakashi suddenly appeared behind Zabuza, holding a kunai to his neck "Don't move. Game over."

"Awesome!" Naruto cheered.

Sakura was giggling like the little fangirl she was.

Zabuza started laughing. "You think it's over? You just don't get it… It will take more to defeat me than mimicking me like an ape… A lot more." Zabuza laughed again. He explained that Kakashi was able to copy him so quickly and easily, even making his clone say something he would say to distract Zabuza. "Too bad for you…" Yet another Zabuza appeared behind Kakashi. "I am not that easy to fool!"

The second Zabuza turned to water.

"Zabuza was a water clone too!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Of course he was." Akana muttered, annoyed by the entire situation.

Once again Kakashi was faced with Zabuza's sword, but he quickly ducked underneath it, causing the sword to over swing and stick in the ground. Zabuza then switched hands on the hilt and spun around to land a kick directly in the center of Kakashi's chest. The white haired ninja went flying. And Zabuza fallowed to strike. But stopped when he saw dozens of throwing jack stars Kakashi had tossed on the ground between them. "Foolishness!" Zabuza yelled before disappearing again.

"He must not be good in only Ninjutsu, but Taijutsu as well to have kicked Kakashi sensei all the way over there." Akina commented. Sasuke glanced at her.

When he stood it seemed as though Kakashi was having trouble getting out of the water. Zabuza appeared behind Kakashi and started making hand signs. Before he could do anything Kakashi was trapped in a giant orb of water.

 _A water prison?_

Zabuza was laughing "You running around free makes it too hard for me to do my job. I'll finish you later… After I've dealt with all the others…" Zabuza used his free hand to make another water clone and started laughing.

"Little ninja wannabe." The clone chuckled, going on about how unprepared the genin were. "We don't call your kind 'Ninja.' We call them…" Zabuza's clone disappeared and reappeared in front of Naruto, kicking him, and causing Naruto's headband to fall off when he flew backwards. The clone then stomped on the Hitai-ate. "…Brats." Zabuza finished his sentence.

"Everyone, listen! Take Tazuna and go! It's a fight you can't win!" Kakashi explained that Zabuza's clone couldn't go far from his body and he had to physically hold the orb to keep Kakashi trapped. "So get out of here!" Kakashi ordered.

Naruto started shaking, and even began to crawl away. But then he suddenly stopped and stared at his bandaged hand. After a moment he looked back at Zabuza's clone. At the Hitai-ate headband under his foot. He stood up wobbly, and then ran in an all-out rage at the clone.

"Stop, you fool!" Kakashi shouted.

"Idiot!" Akina reached out for the boy, but stopped herself.

"Hah! Imbecile…" Zabuza mocked and kicked the boy back again. This time he skidded all the way back by where the others were standing.

"What were you thinking, tackling him all by yourself! You think you're so cool, but junior ninja like us can't…" Sakura suddenly stopped shouting seeing that Naruto was holding his headband in his hand.

Akina sighed. _So that's what he was after… Naruto…_

Naruto stood slowly. Blood was dripping from his mouth. "Hey… You… What's life like without eyebrows, freak?"

Akina looked at Zabuza and snorted. leave it to Naruto to point out such a thing during a serious situation.

"Got a new listing for your bingo book right here! A guy who is going to be the next lord Hokage of Konohagakure village." Naruto grinned, puffed out his chest and retied his headband "Uzumaki Naruto: Konoha school ninja!"

Akina smiled. _That's our Naruto!_

Naruto walked over and started whispering to Sasuke, they were clearly hashing out a plan.

Zabuza laughed. "You're very sure of yourself. But do you really think you stand a chance against me?"

Again Kakashi shouted for them to just leave with Tazuna.

Naruto looked back at Mr. Tazuna "Gramps…?"

Tazuna sighed and shrugged. "Let's face facts. The truth is, I got us into this mess by lying… I've had a real long life, and it would be wrong to let you kids get yourselves killed trying to save me. So you go ahead… Give this fight everything you've got." He smiled.

Sasuke smirked "So that's it!"

"Are you ready for this?" Naruto asked.

Zabuza was laughing again. "Apparently you don't care whether you live to get any older! Playing at being a ninja like it's a child's game…" Zabuza paused "I, however… By the time I was your age… Had already died these hands in my enemies' blood…" They all stood, staring. Zabuza had such a creepy look on his face.

"The demon…Zabuza!" Kakashi told them.

"It would seem my reputation has preceded me." Zabuza replied proudly.

Kakashi explained that the test to become genin in the mist was an inhumanly difficult test.

"Bloody mist… That's a story I'd hoped I'd never have to hear again." Akina mumbled.

Zabuza glanced toward her. "So…you've heard about our little graduation exercise?"

"Graduation exercise…?" Naruto asked, seeming a little scared.

Zabuza started laughing yet again.

"Wh-what graduation exercise?!" The boy pressed. The man was still chuckling. Naruto looked angry.

Zabuza suddenly stopped laughing and sent a creepy glare at Naruto "It's a kind of Killing spree among classmates."

Naruto was shocked speechless.

"Students who'd been friends, eating from the same dish, as undergrads were divided into pairs who were forced to fight each other… To the death. Think of it. Comrades who had trained together, lived together, shared each other's every hope and dream…"

"…That's terrible…" Sakura spoke in a sad voice.

"That's the mist." Akina said. Sakura stared at her, taken aback by her calm.

Kakashi explained that ten years ago the elders were forced to reform the graduation ritual because of a human fiend.

"What kind of reform?" Sakura asked. No one answered. "What are you talking about? What did the fiend you're talking about do?" She asked again.

"Without thinking twice about it, a boy who hadn't even qualified yet as a ninja… Butchered over a hundred of that year's graduating class." Akina finally replied.

"Ah, yes. Good times… I used to have such fun." Zabuza said with a sick grin and malice in his eyes. He then looked down at the two boys in front of him. Sasuke and Naruto froze up, like they had been paralyzed by his gaze. The Zabuza clone took this chance to knock Sasuke down with his elbow. He then slammed Sasuke in the stomach with his fist, making him cough up blood.

 _No..._

"Sasuke!" Sakura cried out.

 ** _No..._**

The Zabuza clone stepped on Sasuke's stomach and reached for the sword on his back. "Time to die…"

"No!" Akina shouted at the Zabuza clone.

"Akina, don't!" Sasuke reached out, earning himself a stomp on his chest.

"Let…him…go!" She demanded venomously, stepping forward.

Zabuza smirked "Foolish girl."

Akina reached up for the hilt of her own sword, clicked open the locks on her harness, and swiftly swung the long blade toward the clone's head. The clone barely had enough time to bring down his own sword, shielding himself from the girl's attack. Akina's sword resonated with a bell-like clang when it met with the other.

Zabuza appeared shocked at first, but then a sick grin appeared in his eyes as recognition took over. "Tsukikage. I see... you must be a brat of the Mizuto clan." Zabuza's smirk widened. "I should have realized. Violet hair and eyes are a trademark of the Mist's most ruthless assassins." He chuckled.

"Shut up!" She screamed. "It's none of your damn business!" She then switched her stance and pulled the Nodachi back to make a spear strike, bypassing the clone's sword, making him jump backward away from Sasuke so as not to be cut. But the Mizuto girl didn't stop there; she ran after the clone, expertly swinging and thrusting her father's Nodachi. Almost as though they were in a dance of strikes and blocks. Zabuza's clone was at a disadvantage for the halberd he wielded was much heavier than the thin sword Akina held, and was not able to defend as quickly as she was able to strike. Having the advantages of both a sword and a long bladed spear the girl continued to advance; finally she pierced past the halberd and stabbed the clone's abdomen, but just as the water splashed to the ground another clone appeared from the side. Akina hopped away, holding her sword aloft to keep space between them. The new clone brandished Zabuza's halberd, taking stance against the girl.

The Mizuto girl breathed heavily, already reaching her limit, but she wouldn't relent. She struck again, but it was clear to everyone that her pace was slowing, her strikes becoming more sluggish.

 _I can't keep going like this... but I can't use THAT here..._

Suddenly the clone deflected her swing and kicked the girl backwards, sending her flying. Before she was able to hit the ground Sasuke quickly jumped up and caught her against his chest. The Nodachi flew from her hands upon impact and landed a few yards away from the pair.

Zabuza chuckled to himself. "You're not half bad. A few more years of training and you just might've made a spot in the Mist Seven." He then looked serious. "Too bad I'll have to kill you here and now." The new clone advanced on the two Genin.

"Not if I have anything to say about it! Shadow clone Jutsu!" Naruto shouted as the clone Zabuza was suddenly surrounded by the blonde's own clones.

"So… Shadow clones, eh? And quite a lot of them…" Zabuza's clone reached for his sword.

All of Naruto's clones took out kunai. "Ready or not-!"

Sasuke went to go help, but Akina grabbed his arm and pulled him away. "Hurry, we gotta move!"

The Naruto clones jumped on the clone Zabuza while Akina helped Sasuke move out of the way, snatching her sword along the way. The Narutos were all in a dog pile, but Zabuza just swatted them away with his halberd sword. The real Naruto reached into his backpack, skidded on the ground, and tossed something to Sasuke. Sasuke jumped to catch it and rolled back to the ground; standing back up quickly Sasuke snapped open the large shuriken he then jumped up into the air.

"Shuriken are useless against me!" The clone Zabuza announced.

Sasuke threw the shuriken anyway, making it bypass the clone and head for the real Zabuza.

"At least this time you've had the sense to zero in on my true form…" the real Zabuza then caught the shuriken with his free hand. "Amateur!" But a second shuriken was already on its way toward him.

 _Good thinking, Naruto!_ Akina mentally cheered.

It looked as though the shuriken was going to hit, but Zabuza jumped over it. "Still an amateur!"

Sasuke smirked "Heh."

The shuriken that had flown past Zabuza puffed into a cloud of smoke, revealing Naruto, who had used the art of transformation. Naruto threw a kunai at Zabuza's head; the man barely dodged, but only by letting go of the water prison first, and the kunai grazed his cheek when it passed.

Zabuza turned to glare at the blond boy and went after him, swinging the shuriken he'd caught, readying to throw it, but the shuriken was stopped by Kakashi's hand. Kakashi glared at Zabuza while Naruto fell into the water safely. "…Naruto… Your scheme was brilliant… You've matured… All of you…"

Naruto had resurfaced and grinned at his sensei.

"So…you made me fly into such a rage that I unraveled the spell holding the water prison together…" Zabuza growled.

Kakashi glared "No! You didn't drop your own spell. It was broken… From without." Zabuza glared back. "Just so you know, the same spell won't work on me twice. Your move." Kakashi spoke. The two jumped away from each other, each standing on the water; both were making the same hand signs, both at the same time.

 _So fast! It's hard to follow._

Water started swirling around the two of them, forming into two dragons that appeared to be fighting, crashing into each other. Waves flooded the shore, crashing into the others. And then the two water dragons crashed together, making water spray everywhere like rain.

Sakura held tight to Mr. Tazuna so he wouldn't wash away in the waves, or maybe it was so she herself didn't wash away. While, surprisingly, Sasuke had pulled Akina against his chest to keep her safe as well. Naruto was left to bob around in the swirling water like a buoy. Kakashi and Zabuza were deadlocked in battle, blocking each other's attacks, making hand signs like before. It looked as though they were arguing, but they were too far away for anyone to hear and suddenly a big blast of water hit Zabuza, sending him into the trunk of a tree. Waves flooded the shore again, threatening to sweep the others away. Kakashi crouched in the tree over Zabuza, seeming to have a conversation when suddenly two needles shot through the mist ninja's neck, sending him to the ground.

"What..." Akina's eye widened.

A masked boy stood in another tree just a ways away. He laughed dryly. "Your prediction came true."

Naruto crawled out of the water. Akina pushed away from Sasuke and rushed over to help him up. "You okay, Naruto?"

He only nodded, not taking his eyes off the new arrival. Kakashi jumped down to check if Zabuza was still alive. He put two fingers to his neck and nodded, indicating that Zabuza was, in fact, dead.

"Thank you for your help." The boy in the mask spoke. "…I hope you don't mind my interfering. But I wanted the satisfaction of putting Zabuza out of his misery myself."

Kakashi looked up at him. "The mask is familiar… Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't you a Shinobi hunter from the village hidden in the mist?"

 _The mist…? Another one?_ Akina looked closer at the boy and saw that Kakashi was right, on the forehead of the mask was the symbol of the mist village.

"Well, aren't you the smart one?!" The boy chuckled.

Naruto ran over near the others, Akina followed at a slower pace, not once taking her eyes off this newcomer.

"Shinobi hunter?" Sakura suddenly asked.

"I am, indeed, a member of the elite tracking unit from the village hidden in the mist. It is our responsibility, and our art, to hunt down and deal with the rogues and the outlaws…" The boy answered dutifully.

"Basically, a fetch dog." Akina corrected.

"Call it what you will." He said somewhat heatedly.

Naruto was looking back and forth between the boy and Zabuza's lifeless body. "What's going on here? Who are you?!" Naruto shouted while pointing at the masked stranger.

Kakashi started to walk toward the blond. "Relax, Naruto, he's not an enemy."

"That has yet to be seen." Akina muttered.

"That's not what I asked!" Naruto went on about how Zabuza had been taken out by someone his age even though the genin hadn't been able to.

"Oh. Well, you have my sympathy. I can see where a thing like that would be hard to accept. …But it's a fact you'll have to live with." Kakashi patted Naruto on the head "This probably won't be the last time we run into a kid who's both younger than you…and stronger than me."

Naruto looked less than happy.

"Technically Kakashi sensei was the one who took Zabuza down. This guy just took advantage of the moment." Akina pointed out. "He was probably standing in wait for the right distraction."

The Hunter gave an angry huff and left the tree branch to kneel by Zabuza "…Your battle is over, for now, and the remains must be disposed of, lest they give up secrets to our foes." The boy picked up Zabuza's body and made a hand sign. "Well then, I must be off."

And with that said, he disappeared in a swirl of smoke and leaves.

"He's gone!" Naruto shouted.

 _I'm not so sure about that…_ Akina thought, glaring at the spot where the hunter had once been.

Kakashi sighed and pulled his headband back down over his eye. "Now! We still have to escort Mr. Tazuna the rest of the way home. Let's put our best feet forward!"

Mr. Tazuna started laughing. "You poor kids, you must be so humiliated! But never mind. You can lick your wounds at my house."

 _Oh yeah. Rub it in, old man…!_ Akina growled as she clipped her sword to her back.

Just then, Kakashi fell to the ground.

"What?! Huh…?! What's happening?!" Naruto spoke franticly.

"Kakashi sensei!" Sakura practically screamed.

Akina quickly walked over and knelt down by her sensei, checking him over. "He's nearly exhausted his Chakra. I don't think he'll be walking for a while." She glanced up at Sasuke. "Looks like we'll have to carry him."

Sasuke nodded. "Fine. We should get out of here as soon as possible."


	9. Shinobi Hunters

Chapter nine: Shinobi Hunters!

This one is pretty short. Just kind of a lull in between the action.

Enjoy?

Disclaimer: If I owned it then I wouldn't need to write fanfiction.

...

 _"We had quite the fight back in the forest. It seemed as though we'd never make it out alive. But with some teamwork and a little good thinking on Naruto's part, Naruto and Sasuke managed to free Kakashi-sensei, and then Kakashi-sensei defeated Zabuza._

 _But who in the world was that boy who killed him? Another mist ninja? I don't think I like that._

 _Well, we had to carry Kakashi sensei the rest of the way to Mr. Tazuna's house._

 _Okay, so Sasuke, Naruto, and Mr. Tazuna carried him. But still!"_

"Akina, what's that you're writing?" Sakura asked, looking over the violet haired girl's shoulder.

"Just a journal." Akina smiled and closed the book.

"Oh. Okay." The pink haired girl frowned, clearly curious of the book's contents.

"Are you all right, teacher?!" Mr. Tazuna's daughter, Tsunami, asked as she walked up to Kakashi, who was lying in a bed on the floor.

. "No, but I will be… in about a week…" He answered tiredly.

"The Sharingan eye is an incredible power…" Sakura spoke from beside Kakashi. "But doesn't the strain it puts on your body make you wonder if it's worth it?!"

Akina stood by a window, looking out at the water. Sasuke and Mr. Tazuna were sitting on the floor, catching their breaths. And Naruto was sitting by the door, taking his shoes off.

"This time, you took down your strongest foe yet, so we can probably relax for a while." Mr. Tazuna spoke cheerfully.

But Sakura still looked worried.. "I can't get my mind off that masked kid…"

 _Me either…_ Akina thought.

Kakashi explained that the masks are worn by secret elite ninja from the mist who dispose of corpses and furthermore that a shinobi's body can still hold the secrets of any jutsu they have used along with many other things. So for those reason's dead shinobi are tracked down and disposed of to protect their clans and villages."Silently and without a trace. That's how Shinobi leave the world."

Sakura looked queasy. "So, Zabuza's corpse will be dismembered and destroyed? That's so creepy!"

"Creepy is putting it lightly." Akina turned and looked at everyone else. "When they came to take my father's body away I screamed and cried, but they didn't care. They severed his head before my very eyes then burned his body. I didn't even get to keep his ashes."

Every single person in the room looked to her with shocked faces.

She turned back to the window. "I will always hate the hunters for as long as I live."

After a long silence Kakashi sighed. "In any case, it won't do us any good to go picking fights."

Sakura stared at the other girl. "Akina…"

"Hmm?"

"There's something I've been meaning to ask you." She said meekly.

Akina turned to face the pink haired girl. "What is it?"

"Where did you learn to fight like that?" Sakura asked, her eyes brimming with curious wonder.

"Oh..." Akina shifted nervously. "I learned from my father, but since he died I had to do most of the training on my own. Right now I really only know the basic principles of swordplay."

Sakura nodded. "I've never seen you fight before. You are really good!"

The Mizuto girl snickered and looked back out the window distantly. "I'm nowhere near as skilled as I should be. I could barely even defeat a clone."

"But-! But if it hadn't been for you, Akina, Sasuke would've…" Sakura's voice faltered as she choked back a sob, thinking of what might've happened to the raven haired boy if Akina hadn't rushed in to save him.

Naruto walked over to where the rest of the group was and sat down. "Oh! Hey, I was also wondering why that Zabuza guy seemed to know you, Akina." He looked thoughtful. "He also said something about your sword. I forgot what it was." The boy then smacked a fist into his hand, as if he'd thought of something. "It's some kind of super special famous sword, isn't it? It sure looks odd."

"This…" Akina took the long sword from her back and turned it in her hand, revealing the beautifully designed blade. "…is my father's Nodachi, Tsukikage. It is one of Eight swords that were specially made in Kirigakure."

"One of eight?" Sakura questioned. "So there are more swords like yours?"

Akina shook her head. "Each of these eight swords were created to suit the personal fighting style of their owners. Zabuza's sword is also one of the eight."

Everyone but Kakashi seemed shocked to hear this.

She continued. "The purpose of a Nodachi is to act as both a sword and a spear, giving the wielder the long reach of a spear while also having the slicing power and capabilities of a halberd sword. It makes for quick and efficient movements if one should become surrounded."

Naruto seemed amazed. "Wow! So only really powerful ninja have one, huh?! Jeez, Akina, your dad must've been strong!"

A small, sad smile appeared on her face. "He was."

Naruto laughed, not noticing the look on his friend's face. "Someday I'm gonna be strong enough to have a cool weapon or something like that! Yeah!"

Kakashi coughed. "Well, as much as I encourage you all to get to know each other better, I do require some sleep if I'm to recover quickly."

"Oh! Yes, Sensei! We're sorry!" Sakura piped as she dragged a still giddy Naruto off to help her and Tsunami set up beds for everyone.

Kakashi sighed.

After a while of silence Sasuke stood up and walked over to where Akina was still standing, looking out the window. "Hey…"

She turned to glance at the boy out of the corner of her eye, a little surprised that he was there. "Hey yourself…did you want something?"

The raven haired ninja stared out the window as if in thought; they were so close his shoulder brushed against hers. "Not really…"

Akina snickered. "Then why-" she then shook her head. "Never mind. How're your ribs feeling?"

He chuckled bitterly, wincing as he did so. "I'll live."

The girl turned back to looking out the window. "I'm sorry; if my knowledge of healing Jutsu was more advanced I could've done a better job at fixing them, but-"

"It's fine. Like Sakura said earlier, it could've been worse if you hadn't stepped in to help."

She glanced at him, a sly smirk crossing over her face. "Uchiha Sasuke, are you thanking me?"

He snorted and turned his face away, trying to hide the slight color on his cheeks.

"You are!" She giggled while trying to get him to look at her, but he merely turned away from her every time until they were practically going in circles.

Just then Sakura and Naruto came back in the room; both of them stopped dead in their tracks to stare at the two.

"Ack! Stop it already!" the raven haired boy shouted before stomping over to the other side of the room and plopping himself down on the floor, huffing, and still blushing.

"What was that all about?" Sakura asked Naruto, bemused.

Naruto shrugged. "I dunno." He then went over to where Akina was still giggling to herself by the window. "Hey, Akina! Can you show me how to use that cool sword of yours?!" He asked excitedly.

She stopped laughing and looked at the boy. "Oh? Sorry, Naruto, but we'd need a big space for that and I don't think it would be a good idea to go outside just yet."

"Awwww!" The blond whined and went back to go sit by Sakura.

Akina giggled at his childishness and went to go sit by Sasuke. The Uchiha turned his head away with a grunt.

This time she pressed her shoulder into his.. "Oh, come on. I don't see why you can't just say thank you and get it over with."

The only reply she received was another grunt. Akina sighed.

A while later, after Tazuna and Tsunami came back into the room, Naruto and Sakura seemed to have become bored. Akina watched as the two huddled around Kakashi, whispering something about the mask he always wore over his face.

"What're you two doing?"

"Shhhhhh!" Sakura held a finger up to her mouth and glared at the violet haired girl before turning back to Kakashi.

Akina huffed and crossed her arms. "Whatever."

Sasuke snorted next to her and she elbowed him in the ribs, making him wince in pain.

"Sorry..." she whispered, truly apologetic.

A moment later Naruto and Sakura suddenly jumped back, screaming.

Tsunami walked over. "Oh, sensei, are you awake?"

"You idiot! Don't be such a klutz! We almost got to see what's under the mask!" Sakura whispered harshly to Naruto.

Akina sighed. "Wouldn't it just have been easier to ask?"

Kakashi sat up and put his hand over his face.

"What's wrong, Kakashi sensei?" Naruto asked.

"Hmm… Of course… The Shinobi hunters who manage corpse disposals are supposed to destroy the bodies of those they kill at once, right on the spot."

"So what?" Sakura said.

"You're not as smart as you think you are, Sakura." Akina mumbled. Sasuke elbowed her.

Sakura glared but otherwise ignored the other girl.

"Don't you get it?" Kakashi asked. "How did the kid in the mask dispose of Zabuza's corpse?"

Sakura shrugged. "How should I know?! He took the body with him."

"Yes, he did… Even though all he needed to take home as proof he'd made the kill was the head! And there is a mystery surrounding the weapons that the hunter used to dispatch his prey…"

Akina looked up. "Senbon… Acupuncture needles…"

Sasuke's eyes widened. "…No way…"

"Yes way." Kakashi returned.

"What the hell nonsense are you all mumbling on about?" Mr. Tazuna asked.

Kakashi looked serious. "That's it's likely…Zabuza is still alive!"

Naruto, Sakura, and Mr. Tazuna all looked shocked beyond belief. Tsunami seemed to be confused as to what they were talking about.

"What the heck are you talking about?!" Naruto shouted.

"But, Kakashi sensei, you checked to be sure Zabuza was dead, didn't you?" Sakura asked.

"I made sure of it, but…a death like trance could have created a very convincing illusion of the real thing…" He answered. Kakashi explained that acupuncture needles are deadly if the hit a vital spot, otherwise they are relatively harmless medical tools. Furthermore he explained that shinobi hunters possess a thorough knowledge of the human anatomy and could easily put someone into a near-death state. On top of that he pointed out that the kid hauled off Zabuza's heavy body instead of disposing of the body right there. "As Akina's story told us, shinobi hunters have no qualms to disposing of the body in front of others. Things may be just the way they seemed… But we have to consider the other possibility."

"Aren't you just complicating things by over-thinking them? Shinobi hunters are supposed to hunt outlaw Shinobi, right?" Mr. Tazuna asked.

"Uuuusually… But ignoring something that smells this fishy is a great first step to being caught completely unprepared. And preparation is a Shinobi's most important skill." Kakashi explained. "Oh well! Whether Zabuza is dead or alive… There may still be more and even deadlier ninja in the service of your enemy, Gato."

Naruto was shaking and had an odd smile on his face.

"Someone's excited." Akina giggled quietly. Sasuke nudged her again.

"Kakashi sensei! You said preparation is a Shinobi's most important skill, but right now you can't even move. What are you going to do?" Sakura asked.

Kakashi started laughing. "I'm going to increase your training schedule!"

"What? Training…?" Sakura spoke with slight shock. "But Kakashi sensei, what will a little extra training now matter with what we're up against?! Our opponent is a ninja so powerful that even with your Sharingan eye, he almost defeated you!"

Kakashi was calm as always. "And when I was captured, Sakura, think about who it was that rescued me… You four are all maturing, progressing rapidly, your powers growing exponentially… Especially yours, Naruto. You've grown the most!" Kakashi smiled.

 _Yeah, well. Naruto already had the most growing up to do…'cept maybe Sakura…_

"But that being said…" Kakashi said lazily. "…The skills I teach you now will be an interim thing only, to tide us over until I recover enough to take over…"

"But, sensei! Even if Zabuza is still alive, how can we just train without knowing when he may return and strike again?" Sakura asked.

"An excellent question… But once a person has been placed into a near-death trance it is quite some time before their body returns to its previous state of health and readiness." Kakashi explained.

"So we'll train while we're waiting! Could be fun!" Naruto said excitedly.

"Only someone like you would say that, Naruto!" Akina laughed.

"Well, I think it would be fun…" Naruto protested, repeating what he'd said before.

"It won't be fun for you."

Everyone looked to see a small boy with a hat on standing by the door.

"Who the heck are you!" Naruto shouted while pointing at the boy.

"It's not polite to point, Naruto." Akina mumbled to the blond.

"Inari! Where have you been?!" Tazuna spoke with his arms stretched out.

"Welcome home, Grandpa…" Inari ran into Mr. Tazuna's arms.

 _So that's Tazuna's grandson…?_ Akina wondered.

"Inari, greet our guests properly! They're the esteemed ninja who brought your grandfather safely home!" Tsunami scolded.

"It's all right, right, Inari?" Tazuna said cheerfully.

 _No, it's not really alright…_ Akina thought as she turned away.

"But, mama, they're all gonna die." Inari said while pointing to the Genin.

 _What a little brat!_

"Listen, you little twerp!" Naruto shouted as he stood.

"No one can beat Gato and his men." The boy said slowly.

"You brat!" Naruto prepared to hit Inari, but Sakura held him back.

"Pull yourself together, Naruto, he's just a little boy."

 _A knock on the head might do him some good, though._

"Right. Hey, pay attention, little guy." Naruto pointed at Inari. "I'm a superhero who'll someday become the most extreme ninja. My name will be Hokage, the fire shadow!" Naruto put his hand into a fist. "This Gato guy doesn't scare me, believe it!"

"Hero? You're dumb! There's no such thing!" Inari glared at Naruto.

"Wh-what?!" Naruto went to hit him again, but was, once again, stopped by Sakura.

"I said, quit it!"

Inari walked to the door in the back of the room. "If you don't wanna die, go home now…"

 _Bossy little thing, isn't he?_

"Where are you off to, Inari?" Tazuna asked.

Inari opened the door. "I'm going to watch the ocean from my room…" And then he slammed the door shut behind him.

"Peculiar kid…" Akina said passively.

"Please forgive him…" Tazuna said.

After a while, despite Sakura's scolding, Naruto went up toward Inari's room. And only a few minutes later he came back down, looking sheepish.

"He'll never learn." Akina shrugged. _Oh well. Not my problem._


	10. Time for Training! Climb to the Top!

Chapter ten: Time for training! Climb to the top!

Okay, I know it has been like a year since I last updated. I have gone through some stuff and I'm getting my life together, so bear with me. I'm not giving up on writing.

Enjoy?

Disclaimer: If I owned it I wouldn't need to write fanfiction.

...

" _I suppose, for now, I'm going to have to watch what I write in here since a certain bubble gum headed girl keeps trying to read over my shoulder."_

Akina turned the page in her journal.

" _Day two of our C-rank mission:_

 _Kakashi-sensei has come to the conclusion that Zabuza may very well still be alive, as well that he may have more accomplices, so he will be starting us on a new training regimen as soon as he's able to move again. And I'll have to begin some new training of my own._

 _We also met Mr. Tazuna's grandson, Tsunami's son, Inari. He's kind of a brat if you ask me. I don't know what happened to make him lose so much faith in people, but I guess it's really none of my business anyway."_

The girl closed the journal and put it back into her pack before laying down in the futon that was set out for her, right next to Sakura's, on the "girl's side" of the room divider Naruto had called it. And, of course, both boys were sleeping on the other side of the guest room.

...

After Kakashi was well enough to walk, though with the help of crutches, he took the four Genin out into the woods for their first day of training.

"So, it's decided. The new training regimen begins today!" Kakashi announced.

"Yeah!" Naruto cheered.

"I would hope you didn't just bring us all the way out here into the woods for any other reason." Akina jabbed.

Kakashi cleared his throat, sending the girl a slight glare. "But first…let's discuss the basis of your ninja powers… The body energies known as chakras."

Naruto had a clueless look on his face "Uh… Right. So, um… Chakra… What are those again? I think I've heard of this before…haven't I?" he mumbled the last part to himself.

"And you call yourself a ninja? Did you sleep through every class you ever took?" Sakura shouted, pointing at Naruto.

"Talk about clueless. I already knew what Chakra was when I was three years old." Akina sighed.

Naruto scratched the back of his head. "Why don't you say I got in some really high quality nap time?"

The girl sighed again. "You've got to be kidding me…"

"All right! Sakura." Kakashi motioned for her to begin the lesson.

Sakura pulled out a scroll. "Pay attention, Naruto! It's a pain, but I'll try to keep it simple! Try to find some storage space for this information somewhere in that brain of yours." She explained about how chakra is the energy made from the combination of spiritual and physical energies, which are then focused into jutsu using hand signs. "Read and repeat until you find it starts to make sense…"

"That's correct! Iruka taught his students well!" Kakashi complimented.

Sakura smiled proudly with her hands on her hips.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever!" Naruto waved a hand. "I don't do so well with long explanations, but if you could just show me, my body can learn it!"

Sakura looked ready to kill Naruto. And who could blame her? She just went through all the trouble of explaining it to him and he wasn't even listening.

"Naruto's right… We all already employ the ninja arts and techniques…" Sasuke agreed.

"Wrong...!" Kakashi corrected. "None of you yet has full mastery of your Chakra!"

 _Not even me…_

"What?!" Naruto shouted angrily.

"Now, listen…" Kakashi then explained that the energy required depended on the jutsu being performed and that too much or too little could have negative effects. "You not only lack the stamina for a prolonged fight… But you develop significant vulnerabilities."

Naruto smiled and scratched the back of his head. "So…uh… What do we do?"

"You learn to control your body through the harshest of training… Go out on a limb, and learn from the experience!" Kakashi appeared to smirk at his own joke.

Naruto had that clueless look on his face again.

"How do we do that?" Sakura asked.

"How?" Kakashi repeated. "We climb trees!"

"Climb trees?!" Naruto and Sakura asked.

"That's right…" Kakashi answered.

"Thought it would be something like that." Akina smiled, removing her nodachi and harness.

Sakura looked like she didn't have a clue. "How would that qualify as training?"

"Listen up, you four. This won't be any ordinary tree climbing. You're not allowed to use your hands." Kakashi said.

"That sounds like fun!" Naruto laughed.

Sakura still looked unsure "…How…?"

Kakashi held his hands in a Jutsu sign. "Watch and learn." The teacher walked over to a tree and began walking straight up the trunk, crutches and all.

Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke all looked just a little shocked. Akina wasn't surprised in the least.

"He's climbing…" Naruto said in an amazed tone.

"…With his legs…and feet…parallel to the ground!" Sakura added.

Kakashi then climbed up to a branch and walked upside down.

"What a show off…" Akina rolled her eyes.

"That's it, in a nutshell." Kakashi said "Focus all of the energy of your Chakra toward the soles of your feet and use that power to cling to the trunk. When you have full mastery over your own Chakras, this is the kind of thing you can accomplish."

"But, Kakashi sensei, how will learning to climb trees this way make us any stronger?" Sakura asked.

"I'm just getting to that." He replied cheerfully. "Listen and learn. The point of it all, the goal, is greater mastery over the chakras." He explained that this type of climbing required a very fine tuned application of chakra and that once the technique was mastered then no jutsu should be beyond reach. "…In theory, anyway."

Naruto seemed Happy to hear that part.

Kakashi went on to explain that the training will build up their stamina and make it easier to use jutsu while on the move or during battle. Kakashi then took out four kunai. "…Now, no more talk. It's time for action. The only way to learn is by doing." He then threw them, each landing in the ground in front of one of the Genin.

"Use the kunai blades to score the bark at the highest point you can climb to. It will serve as a reminder for later. Your goal is to make a mark on a higher spot each time you climb. I don't expect any of you to reach the treetop on your first try. A running start will probably be enough momentum for a good first effort. All right?"

Naruto grinned and posed after picking up the Kunai that had been in front of him. "No sweat! I could do this one before breakfast! I'm the fastest-developing ninja on this team!"

"Less talk and more action." Kakashi scolded. "Chose your trees and up you go!"

The four Genin all made the same hand sign Kakashi had, and each ran to a different tree.

"Ready or not, here I come!" The blond shouted. But Naruto barely took one step up the tree before he fell back on his head. Sasuke went about twelve feet before he was pushed back from too much Chakra, then landed on the ground and watched as Naruto rolled around, holding his bumped head.

And as for Akina and Sakura…

"This is easier than I thought!" Sakura chirped.

"No kidding!" Akina giggled.

Sasuke, Naruto, and Kakashi looked up to see both girls sitting on branches more than half way up their own trees.

"Sakura…?! Akina…?!" Naruto shouted in shock.

"Well, now we know which of you four has the best control over their chakras. Our young ladies." Kakashi said while still hanging upside down from the tree branch he had climbed to.

Sasuke slumped down and sighed.

"Incredible! You go, Sakura! That's my girl!" Naruto shouted excitedly.

Sakura slumped in disappointment at the fact that the only praise she got was from Naruto.

 _Sasuke wouldn't have said anything even if he had been impressed…you should know that, Sakura._

"Well… Understanding the use of one's chakras and manipulating them, successfully is quite an achievement so far…" Kakashi spoke. "…Sakura and Akina are probably the one's closest to overtaking our leader, Lord Hokage…despite all of Naruto's boasts and aspirations…"

Naruto didn't look too happy to hear that.

"And the finest hope of clan Uchiha doesn't seem too impressive, either."

Sasuke glared.

"Kakashi sensei, how could you?!" Sakura shouted as she pointed at their sensei.

Akina jumped down from her tree and stood in front of Sasuke, smirking slightly. "You don't seem impressed, Sasuke. Jealous?"

The Uchiha boy huffed and crossed his arms before turning his head away.

"Alright. We'll continue this for the rest of the day." Kakashi announced.

...

Naruto fell once again, adding another bump to his already bruised head. He hadn't made it any farther than about seven or eight feet up the tree.

Sasuke wasn't making much progress either, after his first attempt he only managed to climb around three or four feet higher.

Sakura was lying at the bottom of her tree, and Akina had stopped to take a little nap on a branch in her own.

"Dang it!" Naruto shouted.

The purple haired girl looked down to see him walking toward Sakura.

"Hey, hey! Sakura! Could you help me get the hang of this?" Naruto whispered to her.

She looked confused. "Hunh?"

"She'll never get it." Akina sighed. _Hmm… It feels so good up here. It's warm, but shady. Ahh! I could stay up here all day…_ and she began to doze off.

"Akina! …Akina!"

The girl looked down. Sasuke was standing there, glaring up at her.

"What?"

"Kakashi says we're done for today."

She jumped down, rubbing her eyes. "Really? I must have been sleeping…"

Sasuke turned and began walking away. "Come on, the others are already on their way back to Tazuna's."

Akina jumped down and retrieved her sword and harness before walking up alongside him. "You stayed behind just to wake me up?" She asked sweetly, mocking the tone Sakura usually used when talking to the raven haired boy.

Sasuke quickly turned his head away, but she could still see the pink on his cheek. "No! I stayed behind to get in some extra training time."

The girl smiled. "Whatever you say."

The next day Sakura was sent off to protect Mr. Tazuna, while Akina watched over Naruto and Sasuke's training. She had made as much progress as she could at this point, according to Kakashi, and was appointed to oversee the boy's training while Kakashi rested a bit more back at Tazuna's house.

She sat under one of the many tall trees, drawing pad and pencil in hand. Well, since she had nothing better to do, she figured she may as well draw to keep herself occupied.

About an hour later Naruto and Sasuke were still at it, both making quite a bit of progress.

Naruto's highest mark was nearly halfway up the tree. And Sasuke's was only about five feet above that.

Once again they both ran up their trees at the same time.

Naruto climbed a few inches above his last mark before he slipped, slicing the tree and jumping back down to the ground. He looked up to watch as Sasuke climbed a bit higher before he, too, slipped and was forced to jump back down from tree to tree. Sasuke didn't look pleased that Naruto was catching up in height.

 _It's obvious that this has become some sort of competition between the two. They're both very childish._ Akina rolled her eyes.

Naruto formed a hand sign again, and Akina watched as he gathered chakra to his feet.

 _He's getting better at it. A lot more focus and control._ She smiled "Must be Sakura's advice…" _To be honest, I was a bit surprised she helped him out._

Naruto was about to run up the tree when…

"Hey, Naruto!" Sasuke called out.

And Naruto promptly fell on his face. "You!" Naruto shouted. "You're breaking my concentration! Stop bugging me!"

"Uhhh… Well…" Sasuke mumbled, becoming quieter with each syllable.

 _What's this?_ Akina stopped her drawing to watch, suddenly interested.

Naruto had crossed his arms, and plastered a scowl on his face. "Wh...what? What is it?"

Sasuke's face was almost tomato red. He turned away. "Wh… What did Sakura say to you…?"

Naruto had a look of pure shock on his face, but it was soon replaced with a sly grin. "None of your business!"

Sasuke looked like he'd been slapped in the face.

Akina giggled. _Burn! That was pretty mean, Naruto!_

Naruto went back to practicing. Sasuke was sulking.

Akina stood, leaving her drawings on the ground, and walked over near the Uchiha. "You could always ask me, you know. Kakashi left me here to help you guys, after all."

Sasuke looked even redder than he had when he'd been talking to Naruto. "No, thanks…"

The girl put her hands on her hips. "Oh, what? You can ask Naruto, but you're too good to ask me?"

Sasuke moved away.

"Hey!"

"I'll do it myself! …Isn't that what we're supposed to do, anyway? Learn how to do things on our own?" The raven haired boy walked to his tree and stabbed it with the kunai out of frustration.

 _You don't have to do everything on your own, Sasuke. When will you learn that…?_

…

That night at dinner they were all sitting at the dinner table in Tazuna's home. Mr. Tazuna was at the head, with Kakashi sensei to his right, and Inari on his left. Naruto sat next to Kakashi, Sasuke was next to Inari, and Akina and Sakura shared the other end of the table, Akina next to Sasuke, and Sakura next to Naruto. And Tsunami was standing in the kitchen area behind Mr. Tazuna. And if you're wondering why Sakura didn't snatch the seat next to Sasuke, it's because Akina was already sitting there before Sasuke walked in. So, technically, Sasuke sat next to her, not the other way around. Needless to say the strawberry haired girl wasn't very happy about it.

"Boy, this is real fun!" Mr. Tazuna spoke cheerfully. "I can't remember the last time I shared a meal with so many people!"

Sasuke and Naruto were eating like a couple of starving dogs.

 _Jeez! That tree climbing training may have taken a lot of their energy, but I didn't think it had taken their manners as well…_

"More, please!" Both boys shouted as they held out their dishes. They glared at each other a moment before the both of them suddenly threw up on the floor.

"…That…is so nasty…" Akina could almost swear her face had turned pea green. _I'm just glad he didn't throw up on_ _ **me**_ _…_

Sakura stood and slammed her hands on the table. "Stop eating if you're just gonna hurl it back up!"

Sasuke wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "…No, I wanna eat!" He said stubbornly.

Naruto smiled "Because even if we make ourselves sick to do it, we have to eat if we want to get strong!"

"No, throwing up will only make you sick, so it defeats the purpose entirely!" Akina scolded. "Now go brush your teeth!"

...

After dinner everyone sat down to have tea. The floor, and the boys' mouths, had been cleaned.

Sakura was looking at a picture on the wall while everyone else sat at the table, except Tsunami, who was washing the dishes. "Um. Why is this picture torn? Little Inari was looking at this the whole time we were having dinner. Someone's face is completely gone. Is that deliberate?"

Everyone waited for the answer.

"…It was a picture of Inari's father." Tsunami finally spoke.

"…Once upon a time, if you will… Our entire city called him a hero." Tazuna continued.

Inari shoved away from the table and walked toward the door leading out of the house.

"Inari… Where are you going?" Tsunami asked.

Inari merely walked outside without answering, slamming the door shut behind him.

"Inari!" Tsunami shouted, she then turned to glare at Tazuna. "Father! I've told you time and again not to mention that in front of my son!" She then ran after Inari, also slamming the door.

"Well, then..." Akina broke the lingering silence.

Sakura turned to Mr. Tazuna. "So… You're talking about what it is that makes Inari act so strangely…?"

"It sounds like there's a story there…" Kakashi added.

Tazuna explained that the man in the picture was not Inari's birth father, but that they had been equally as close. He spoke of how happy Inari had once been, then Tazuna began to cry. "But Inari changed... after what happened to his father." Tazuna said that the entire village, and especially Inari, had been robbed of the meaning of courage.

Everyone was silent for a moment.

"What could have changed Inari so much?" Kakashi asked.

Tazuna took off his glasses and wiped his eyes. "Let me start at the beginning… And tell you about the man who our entire land called a champion and a hero."

"Champion…?" Naruto repeated.

Akina tapped the boy on his head. "Shush."

Tazuna told them the story of how Inari had met his adopted father, Kaiza, three years ago. He told them how the man had rescued Inari from drowning when some kids had stolen his puppy and ended up pushing him in the water. They had thrown the puppy in the water and told Inari to save it.

"What little jerks." Akina growled.

Naruto shushed her.

Tazuna continued explaining that Kaiza was a fisherman who had come to the village seeking his fortune, but ended up gaining a son and family through Inari instead. He then told the story of how Kaiza had saved the village from a flood, almost losing his life in the process. "That was when… People here started calling Kaiza a champion and a hero. With a father like that, Inari could hold his head up high. …Until Gato came to town…"

"…And the incident you've alluded to took place…" Kakashi stated more than asked.

They all waited. Mr. Tazuna didn't say anything.

"So…what happened?" the Jonin asked.

Mr. Tazuna shuddered. "In front of the entire city… Gato had Kaiza put to death!"

"How cruel…" Akina spoke sadly.

"Ever since then, Inari has changed…and Tsunami…and everyone in this city's changed, too."

They all sat in silence for a while before Naruto suddenly stood up only to fall flat on his face.

"What are you doing, Naruto…?" Sakura asked.

"Are you _**trying**_ to hurt yourself?" Akina scolded.

"…Don't even think about training any more today. If you try to work your chakras any more without getting some rest first, it would probably kill you." Kakashi warned.

Naruto began to sit up. "I'm going to prove to him that he's wrong!"

"Prove what? To whom?" Sakura asked in clear confusion.

Naruto stood again and walked, with some difficulty, towards the door. "I'm going to show Inari… that there are still heroes in the world!"


	11. Achieving new Heights!

Chapter eleven: Achieving new Heights!

Trying to get back on a regular schedule, we shall see how that goes.

Enjoy?

Disclaimer: If I owned it then I wouldn't need to write fanfiction.

...

" _After a few days we finally began our new training, which turned out to be climbing trees using only chakra applied to the soles of our feet. Though Sakura and I quickly achieved our goal, the boys were having some difficulty and I, therefore, was placed in charge of overseeing their training. Sakura took on the job of protecting Mr. Tazuna while Kakashi-sensei was still recovering._

 _We also got to hear a little about what caused the townspeople to become so troubled and what made Inari such an angry kid._

 _But can we really help? Naruto seems to think so."_

...

The morning on the sixth day of training everyone was already eating breakfast when Sakura walked out, yawning.

Sasuke, Inari, Mr. Tazuna, and Akina were sitting at the table. Kakashi was sitting on the floor in the living room, and Tsunami was bringing another plate to the table.

"Naughty Naruto stayed out all night again, didn't he?" Mr. Tazuna asked.

"Ever since you told us that story, he's been in the trees, training all alone, night after night… An idiot with an obsession!" Sakura answered, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "If he exhausts his chakra, he could kill himself…and be lying dead somewhere right now."

"…I hope he's all right." Tsunami said worriedly. "It's not good for a boy to spend night after night alone outside!"

 _Just like any good mother, she not only worries about her own child, but other children as well…_ Akina smiled sadly.

Sasuke noticed the distant look on the girl's face, but didn't bother saying anything about it.

"There's nothing to worry about." Kakashi spoke cheerfully. "Naruto's a goofy kid…but he's also a full-fledged ninja."

"Is it possible…could he have killed himself? That bone head…" Sasuke mumbled.

Akina suddenly stood up from her seat. "That's it; I'm going to get that big dummy and bring him back! I'll bet he hasn't even eaten anything yet."

Sasuke stood as well, though he didn't look at anyone. "I'll go, too…"

The girl just shrugged and walked out the door, with Sasuke following quietly, leaving everyone else to ponder over what had just happened.

...

It seemed very peaceful out in the woods in the early morning, but at the same time Akina felt strange walking next to Sasuke like that. It had been such a long time since they'd last walked together in the streets of Konoha. Everything was silent aside for the sound of the ocean breeze and the occasional bird chirping.

"Akina?"

"Y-yes?!" she stuttered, slightly startled.

Sasuke turned away, hands in his pockets. "You've been unusually quiet since we left the village."

She looked down. "You know why…"

"The Mist." Sasuke whispered. "What are the odds?"

She looked up at him, an ironic smile on her face. "About the same as you and I walking in the woods together without killing each other."

He smirked. "…Yeah…"

Akina gazed up through the treetops as the sunrise filtered through the green leaves. "It wasn't that long ago, was it? That we were walking like this in the village. To school, lunch, training, going home…" She glanced at Sasuke; he was also looking at the treetops thoughtfully.

"No. Four years is a very long time." He seemed to glare at the sky. "We're not the same little kids we used to be."

This time Akina turned away. "Yeah, your right. We're not the same anymore."

Sasuke and Akina had just entered the training area when a very pretty girl passed them by.

 _I wonder who…?_

Sasuke stopped to stare at her. As where Akina just shrugged and walked over to Naruto.

"Hey, Naruto! Who was that girl?"

He was sitting on the ground with his arms crossed. "The world is an amazing place sometimes!" He mumbled.

"What? Naruto, are you feeling okay?" Akina placed her palm on his forehead, checking for a fever.

Naruto then looked up at her, only noticing she was there once she touched him. "Oh! Hey, Akina! What are you doing here?"

The girl lightly bonked the blond boy on the head. "We came to get you, you big dummy!"

Sasuke walked up next to the other two, his bad mood evident. "Since we're already here, guess I'll start training."

"What's his problem?" Naruto asked.

Akina shook her head and smiled at him. "You missed breakfast this morning, Naruto. But I think Tsunami might have saved you some."

The blond grinned. "I'm starved!"

Some time after Naruto had left to go eat; Sasuke noticed that Akina had disappeared, she'd been doing that quite a lot lately. Stopping from his training for a while the boy set out to find her; it didn't take him long though since the girl was only in a nearby clearing.

Sasuke stood halfway behind a tree, watching as she just seemed to stand there, holding the nodachi aloft in front of her. The ocean breeze blew through the trees gently, causing a few leaves to scatter towards the ground. Just then he noticed Akina shift her stance, bringing the blade to the side of her body; he almost didn't see when she began to moved, swinging the blade with every turn she made, like an intricate dance; when she finally stopped Sasuke noticed that her eyes had been closed the entire time.

The falling leaves touched the ground, all of them sliced in half.

Sasuke couldn't help but gasp, drawing the attention of his teammate. Quickly the boy moved completely behind the tree, hoping she hadn't seen him.

"…Sasuke…we both know you can't hide from me." She spoke calmly.

The boy sighed and walked out from behind the tree, making his way over to the girl. They both stood there a while in silence; Sasuke was looking through the trees as Akina stared at him expectantly.

Finally he spoke, still not facing her. "That's the first time I've watched you train in four years." He paused, as if choosing his words carefully. "It doesn't look as stupid now as it used to, when you had nothing but a bamboo sword." He turned to glance at her, smirking slightly.

She snickered, turning from him. "I've had four years of practice. There'd be something really wrong with me if I hadn't gotten any better in that time."

"Yeah…you'd be like Naruto." This earned him a smack to the arm.

He glared at her, but she merely smiled, giggling slightly.

The next morning, on the seventh day of training, Sakura and Kakashi walked into the training area.

"Where did Naruto go this time…?" Kakashi asked. "Pushing himself beyond his limit, going out by himself again last night…"

Sakura was looking back and forth anxiously. "And at breakfast time, Akina says she's going for a walk…and Sasuke disappears, too!" She seemed angry about that.

Just then, a kunai landed in the ground between them.

They both looked up to see Naruto lying on a branch at just about the top of his tree.

"Naruto can climb all the way up there?" Sakura spoke in amazement.

"Well?! Did you see? Lookit how high I can go!" Naruto shouted excitedly. He began to stand up on the branch, but suddenly he slipped, falling backwards.

"You idiot!" Sakura screamed.

"No! If he falls from that height…" Kakashi couldn't even finish his sentence.

But instead of falling, Naruto stood upside down on the bottom of the branch, grinning like the idiot he was. "Psych! Hah…gotcha, suckers!" he laughed.

"You… You…almost gave me a heart attack, you jerk!" Sakura shouted furiously.

But then Naruto's feet came off the branch, sending him toward the ground again.

"Hey! Twice is too much, Naruto! Stop messing around!"

But Naruto was falling for real this time; that is, until Sasuke caught him by the leg, hanging from the same branch the blond dummy had fallen from. "You bonehead."

"Yessss! Sasuke saves the day! He gives me shivers!" Sakura cheered.

"And that sentence just gave me indigestion…"

Sakura jumped and spun around to face the violet haired girl. "A-Akina?! You scared me!"

Akina rolled her eyes. "Well, that's not an easy thing to do, is it?" She then put her hands on her hips and glared up at Naruto, ignoring any further outbursts from the other girl. "Naruto, you big dummy, I told you not to mess around!"

Naruto gave a cheesy grin. "Heh-heh… Sorry!"

Sasuke had managed to get Naruto safely back on the ground and, after a bit more scolding from Sakura and a few lumps on the head, the Blond boy was laying down in the grass, resting.

"Where were you anyway?" Sakura asked as she turned back to the Mizuto girl.

"Who, me?" The other girl asked innocently. "Oh, I was just…ah…"

"She was sleeping." Sasuke provided, receiving a sour glare from his violet eyed teammate.

Kakashi was smiling.

That night, after another whole day of trying, Naruto and Sasuke had finally made it to the very tops of their trees.

"Want to head back?" Sasuke asked the blond.

Naruto smiled and nodded, panting from exhaustion. "Sure!"

Akina smiled up at them. "Those two are both dummies."

Akina ended up helping Sasuke carry Naruto back to Tazuna's house since he had nearly exhausted his chakras, though the raven haired Uchiha wasn't much better off.

"So, you're finally back!" Tazuna greeted. "Looking like something the cat dragged in!"

Naruto smiled. "Heh… Both of us… We made it to the top of the tree."

"I told you if you didn't take a break you'd wear yourself out, you dope." Sasuke scolded.

"Yeah, like you're one to talk." Akina teased, receiving a slight glare.

"Good!" Kakashi interrupted before any fighting started. "Naruto, Sasuke, Akina, starting tomorrow you three can help Sakura protect Mr. Tazuna."

"Yes, sir!"

After dragging Naruto's tired butt over to the table, Akina and Sasuke sat down for dinner.

"Whew!… Well, I'm dirty, sweaty, and real worn out from all of the work on the bridge today… But construction is almost complete!" Mr. Tazuna announced.

 _Oh, good. Finally, we'll be able to go back home soon._

"Father, you and Naruto are two of a kind. Please don't work yourselves to death!" Tsunami scolded softly.

"Yep." The old man agreed.

Naruto groaned and plopped his head on the table.

"Really, Naruto. Carrying you all the way back to the village isn't at the top of my list for this mission." Akina laughed.

No one but Akina noticed when Sasuke gave a small chuckle as well.

Inari was glaring at Naruto the whole time. But then his face grew sad, and he began to cry.

Naruto stared at him, noticing the sudden mood change. "What's wrong?"

Inari slammed his hands on the table and stood up. "Why do you wear yourself out trying? No matter how hard you train, you'll never be a match for Gato's thugs! You act all cool, and you talk all tough, but big, strong guys like that are always too much for people weaker than they are. They'll destroy you!"

Everyone stared at Inari with utter shock.

"Shut up! I'm not you, and I'm not gonna lose!" Naruto growled.

Inari was still crying. "Just watching you ticks me off! You go running your mouth when you don't know a thing! This isn't your town! And you don't know a thing about me. You're always clowning around and having fun. You don't know a thing about suffering or loneliness or what my life is like!"

Naruto sat up slowly. "So…you figure it's noble to star in a melodrama and treat everyone around you like guests at your pity party?" He glared at Inari. "It takes a really big man to sit around and cry… You brat! You big baby!"

Inari was crying even harder, though it seemed that he was trying to fight it.

Naruto stood and walked away.

"Naruto! You went too far!" Sakura scolded.

 _No… I think having Naruto yell at him is exactly what Inari needed…_

Later that night Akina found Inari sitting on the deck, looking out at the water.

"May I join you?" She asked politely.

He looked at the girl through the corner of his eye but he didn't say anything. She sat down next to him and stared out at the water. "You know, Inari. Naruto's a big dummy and all, but he wasn't trying to be mean… He just doesn't know how to express himself."

Inari looked down sadly.

"Your grandpa told us what happened to your father. I think it struck a chord with Naruto since he grew up without a father as well."

Inari seemed shocked to hear this.

"Actually, Naruto didn't have anyone growing up; no parents, no friends, no one at all. Naruto's been alone his whole life."

"R-really?" Inari asked, looking up at the violet haired girl.

She nodded and glanced down at him, smiling slightly. "But you know; I've never seen Naruto cry. And I've never seen him give up. No matter what happens Naruto always finds a reason to smile. Even when everyone shunned and ignored him, he kept trying, hoping that someone, anyone, would notice him and be his friend." Her smile widened. "I think Naruto realized when you grow up that way crying just becomes useless."

Inari looked down again.

Akina looked back out at the water. "I was around your age when I lost my parents, but at least I got to know them for that little while. Naruto was never given that chance." She then smiled down at Inari again. "So Naruto understands, probably better than anyone, what you're going through."

Inari looked up at her "What?"

She was still smiling. "He thinks he has to yell at you, because you remind him of himself. Like a big brother, ya' know?"

Inari stared at the girl, wide-eyed.

Akina stood up. "Well, just think about it, okay?"

Inari nodded and watched as she left.

Akina's sensei was standing around the corner with his arms crossed. "I came out to talk with Inari, but it seems you beat me to it." He smiled.

"Sorry, sensei, maybe next time." She smirked and patted his arm.

He chuckled.

Akina walked into the house and to the bedroom that the Genin were sharing. After walking to the girl's side of the room divider she saw Sakura was sitting on her bed, twiddling her fingers and looking a little sad.

The violet haired girl knelt down by her. "Hey, Sakura. What's wrong?"

She looked like she was about to cry. "Akina… Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah, sure. What is it?"

She looked up at her with teary eyes. "Is there something…" She sniffed. "…going on between you…a-and Sasuke?"

Akina sighed and shook her head, glad that it wasn't anything serious. "Woah. No… There's nothing at all going on between us."

Sakura still seemed a bit panicked. "But you two…Sasuke….he's always following you! Sasuke acts…" She quieted and looked at her hands. "…He acts so differently when you're around…"

Akina sat down cross-legged and stared at the pink haired girl. "Sakura, would you like to know something?"

She nodded, though unsurely.

The Mizuto girl smiled. "My mother was from the Uchiha clan, so Sasuke and I have known each other ever since we were babies."

Sakura looked completely shocked; she clearly hadn't known.

Akina continued. "We used to be friends when we were little kids. He was always following me around like a little lost puppy, even though I'm younger than him by half a year. We would fight a lot, too. He was such a little crybaby back then; I'd tease him about it all the time. Of course, we were only little kids." she laughed, her gaze going off to those sweet, innocent years long ago.

Sakura seemed calmer now. "What happened? The two of you aren't friends anymore?"

Akina sighed, coming back to reality. "We... drifted apart. Sasuke didn't want to be a kid anymore. And I…well, I wanted to be a kid for as long as I possibly could. In the end we just went our separate ways."

Sakura smiled a little, somewhat sadly. "I see… But, Sasuke seems so comfortable around you, even now."

Akina smirked. "It could be…that inside Sasuke is still a little lost puppy."

Sakura giggled, imagining Sasuke as a puppy. "You think?"

The two continued with Sakura asking more about what Sasuke was like when he was a little kid and Akina telling embarrassing stories that Sasuke would kill her for if he ever found out.

Maybe the two girls could be friends after all.


	12. Dreams of Snow!

Chapter twelve: Dreams of Snow!

EDIT: I rewrote this entire chapter. I didn't like it.

Please excuse my lack of updates. I moved suddenly and have been without internet.

Hopefully this chapter isn't terribly horrible. I tried.

Enjoy?

Disclaimer: If I owned it then I wouldn't need to write fanfiction.

...

Akina awoke the next morning and vaguely wondered how many more mornings they would be spending inside Tazuna's house. The bridge was close to being finished and today was the day the entire team would join Tazuna to work. Kakashi was finally feeling better and the team had a little more confidence after their bit of training. Though this didn't stop Akina from feeling trepidation in the back of her mind. Zabuza was expected to show up any day now. All the genin knew it, though they rarely spoke it aloud.

Could they really stand up against one of the seven swordsman of the mist? Was Akina herself ready? She found herself questioning if she had done enough during her "secret" training sessions. She laughed at that. Sasuke knew about it and she was sure that somehow Kakashi knew because Kakashi always seemed to know everything. He never questioned where Akina always wandered off to.

Akina sighed as she joined the others for breakfast. Everyone except Naruto.

"We'll let him sleep a little longer." Kakashi answered with a smile when the girl gave him a questioning look.

"Morning Akina!" Sakura chirped.

Sasuke shared a glance with his cousin, sensing that something was different. The Mizuto girl merely shrugged and sat next to Sakura. They continued breakfast without Naruto and prepared for the day of guarding Tazuna. Akina was strapping on her harness when Sasuke appeared beside her.

"Yes?"

"I feel like today might be it." He replied.

Akina stopped midway as she was adjusting one of the harness straps. "I hope you are wrong."

Sasuke reached over to help her adjust the strap. "I want you to stay back."

"Excuse you?" Akina stepped away from the boy, sending him a warning glare. "I'm not staying back even if Kakashi-sensei tells me to. I wouldn't stay back in this fight even if lord Hokage told me to."

Sasuke sighed. "Akina... I don't want-"

"I don't care what you want, Sasuke. I'm part of this team and I will not just stand on the sidelines." Akina stared her cousin down until he sighed again.

"I expected you would argue with me about this." He reached back out, grabbing her harness and tugging on it. He let go when he deduced that it was properly tightened.

"I've never been a pushover and I'm not about to start." She gently slapped his hands away, smiling slightly.

Sasuke gave his own slight smile back, but there was something in his eyes that told Akina he wasn't entirely giving up. The boy turned around to leave the room just as Sakura entered.

"Oh! I didn't know you were in here, Sasuke." Sakura started but Sasuke merely muttered that he needed to get ready and passed her by. Sakura sighed.

"Hey, Sakura." Akina called as she clipped Tsukikage to her back.

"Hey." Sakura replied back, her voice carrying a sad note.

"Be extra prepared today." Akina warned before leaving the room.

Sakura nodded.

Kakashi made the decision to leave Naruto to rest up while the remainder of the group joined Tazuna outside the house.

"He's going to be mad at you." Akina warned their sensei.

Kakashi merely smiled. "I'm certain he will forgive me."

The purple haired girl rolled her eyes, but didn't bother taking it any further. she had her own things to think about. Naruto would be fine.

"Well! Please take care of Naruto. He's worn himself out. I doubt he'll be able to move for the rest of the day." Kakashi spoke.

"We're off, Tsunami." Mr. Tazuna spoke up.

"Bye." She waved and the four ninja and bridge builder left.

Along the way Akina noticed she wasn't the only one feeling tense. Somehow the town seemed much quieter and more desolate than usual. Sasuke and Kakashi were both silently watchful while Sakura nervously glanced around.

 _Maybe Sasuke was right. Maybe today was the day._ The girl started to feel nervous when they approached the bridge.

The bridge was quiet and misty so early in the morning and the team followed Tazuna across it with guarded glances around. Once they reached the unfinished edge the team and Tazuna found the small group of workers who had arrived early all laying along the ground, having been cut down by someone who wielded a sword.

"What the hell?" Tazuna ran over to one of his men, sitting him up. "What happened?"

The man opened his mouth to speak. "M-monsters…"

 _It has to be them..._

Fog began to close in. Kakashi looked back and forth. "They're coming!"

The Genin all stood back-to-back with Tazuna and their sensei, kunai at the ready.

"Kakashi sensei, is this that man we met? His 'Hiding in the mist' technique, isn't it?" Sakura asked.

"This is Kirigakure Jutsu all right." Akina answered confidently.

Sasuke began shaking slightly.

"Been a while, Kakashi…" Zabuza's voice called from the mist. "And I see you've got those brats tagging along, just like last time. And the little boy is trembling again, poor thing…" Suddenly, they were surrounded by Zabuza's water clones.

Sasuke smirked. "I'm shaking…with eagerness for a rematch!"

The clones sneered.

Kakashi smiled. "Go ahead…Sasuke."

In barely a flash, Sasuke had dispelled all of Zabuza's clones and appeared back in his place between Kakashi and Akina.

Now Zabuza and the masked boy from the Mist were standing before them. "Well! My water clones were obviously no match for you! It seems the brats have matured quite a bit… Into worthy rivals…eh, Haku?"

"Indeed!" The masked boy answered.

"Looks like I was right." Kakashi said. "Our mysterious masked friend…is playing on Zabuza's team."

"He has nerve, showing up like this!" Sakura shouted, pointing at the boy.

"It's not nerve, Sakura."

She looked at Akina, confused.. "Huh?"

The violet haired girl glared at the two mist ninja.. "They truly believe they are going to kill us."

Sakura seemed worried again.

Akina stepped forward, her hand going for the Nodachi on her back, but Sasuke held out his arm to stop her. "This one's mine."

"But, Sasuke-!"

He glared at the girl. "Just stay out of it."

She glared back. "Fine…for now."

Sasuke stepped forward. "That was quite a show you put on before, but we're on to you now… And I hate ham actors!"

"Sasuke's so cool!" Sakura squealed.

Akina rolled her eyes and sighed. "Speaking of hams, where'd that lame line come from?"

"Impressive kid, isn't he?" Haku asked Zabuza. "Even if your water clones have only a tenth of the strength of the original's it's amazing he was able to do so well."

"But we're still on the offensive. Go!" Zabuza ordered.

"Yes, sir." Haku disappeared in a swirl of mist.

Suddenly the boy appeared in front of Sasuke and struck at the raven haired boy; Sasuke quickly parried with his kunai, deflecting the blow. Again and Again, with flashing speed, the two continued to strike and block, until they were at a stalemate. Both held in a parry of the other's attack; kunai against senbon.

 _That masked guy is fast, but Sasuke's keeping up with him…_

"Sakura! Akina!" Kakashi called. "We have to cover Mr. Tazuna. Take that side, and stay close! Let Sasuke handle Haku."

"Yes, sir!"

The two girls took Mr. Tazuna's right side, while Kakashi took his left. They watched as the standstill continued. Sasuke and Haku seemed to speak for a while before Haku started making hand signs with a single hand.

"That many signs with only one hand?" Akina mused in wonder, watching the masked boy closely.

The boy then stomped his foot twice in the puddles they were standing in and suddenly the water rose, forming into hundreds of senbon ice needles.

Akina blinked. "That's not a Mist jutsu. What is it?"

"Sasuke!" Sakura shouted in worry.

Sasuke was just standing there while the senbon came closer.

 _Come on, Sasuke. Move it! Get out of there!_

All of the ice needles crashed where Sasuke and Haku were standing. Haku had jumped out of the way, but Sasuke couldn't be seen anywhere.

The masked boy stopped and looked around. Just then shuriken flew down from above. He hopped backwards, dodging them one-by-one, making the shuriken land in the concrete bridge along the way, the last one bouncing off the metal railing. He found himself back at the center of the bridge.

"You're not so fast." Sasuke taunted from behind him.

Akina sighed. _That was a little too close, Sasuke._

Sasuke swiped one of his two kunai at Haku, but the masked boy blocked with his arm, catching the Uchiha's wrist. Sasuke then flipped the kunai at Haku's face, but Haku ducked down; taking this chance, Sasuke spun and kicked out at the Mist ninja. Haku couldn't dodge this time and he ended up flying backward toward Zabuza.

"You're fast. I'm faster." Sasuke taunted.

"You had that coming. For underestimating my team and for name calling." Kakashi mocked. "They may not look like much…but Sasuke and Akina here are the top-rated rookies from all of Konohagakure village. And Sakura here is our sharpest mind…" Sakura seemed pleased to hear that.

"And last but not least… The number-one-hyperactive-knuckleheaded ninja: Uzumaki Naruto."

Zabuza started laughing. "Haku…do you understand, if this goes on, you could end up dying at the hands of the very person you sought to spare?"

Haku stood up slowly. "Yes, I do… What a pity." The other boy's body began emitting chakra.

Akina's senses twitched. _So cold...? It's like his chakra itself is made from ice._

The water around Sasuke began forming in the air, slowly solidifying into what appeared to be mirrors made from ice. The mirrors surrounded Sasuke on all sides and above, caging the boy in. Haku stepped forward, climbing into one of the mirrors, then he appeared to be in all of them.

Kakashi moved to help Sasuke, but Zabuza stood in his way. "Let's not forget…I'm your enemy. Our children can play together…While my boy kills your brat."

"Shoot! Sakura, keep the old man safe." Akina unhooked her sword from her back and rushed to Kakashi's side.

"Akina, stay back. I don't want you in the crossfire." Kakashi warned.

"With all due respect, Sensei, I am more worried about that guy." She nodded in the direction of the ice mirrors and held her nodachi aloft. "And swords are kind of my thing, after all."

Zabuza appeared to smirk. "This one is still cheeky, I see."

Suddenly the sound of Sasuke screaming reached their ears.

"Sasuke!"

"Any sudden moves and I'll kill those other two!" Zabuza threatened, referring to Sakura and Tazuna.

Suddenly Sakura ran forward, throwing a kunai towards the mirrors, but Haku appeared from the nearest mirror and caught it with his hand before it could hit. Just then a shuriken appeared from the opposite side, striking Haku across the face of his mask and promptly knocking him out of the mirror. The was suddenly a cloud of smoke alongside the ring of mirrors and in the center a short figure came into view.

Akina smiled slightly. _That big dummy…_

"Uzumaki Naruto! At your service!" The blond goof spoke as the smoke cleared. "Here I am, to save the day." He pointed towards the rest of the group. "You know how the story goes. Things look bleak…till the hero arrives and then POW! Bye-bye bad guys!"

Akina sighed, rolling her eyes. _Idiot… You're supposed to sneak up on your enemy, not jump right out in front of them…_

"Naruto!" Sakura cheered hopefully.

Zabuza sneered and threw multiple shuriken at Naruto, followed by Haku throwing Senbon needles in the same direction, but, to everyone's surprise, the two weapons knocked each other away.

Zabuza glared at the masked boy. "Haku… what are you doing?"

"Zabuza, sir, please let me have this boy. I want to fight him in my own way…"

"…So, you want me to keep my hands off him, eh, Haku?" Zabuza chuckled. "How charmingly naive of you…as usual…"

"Don't forget about me!" Akina suddenly thrust her sword at Zabuza, closing their distance. The man barely managed to block with his halberd.

"You are certainly making it hard to." He growled, pushing her sword away with his own, swinging the halberd. But his swing was slow and Akina rolled away. "You are fast, girl, but you lack the brute strength to stand against me on equal ground."

"I only need to be fast." The girl smirked, lowering into her fencing stance. "You have three weaknesses." She suddenly shot forward, thrusting up, just missing Zabuza's right shoulder when his sword came down to block. There was a bell-like clang as metal met metal. "Shoulder." She spun, switching stance, and swinging her sword downward. Zabuza had just enough time to shift his own sword, protecting his legs. "Forward knee." Without pause she swiftly dragged her sword up Zabuza's halberd, he took a step back at the last minute, but still received a slice in his cheek. "Head."

Kakashi watched in surprise; the girl had kept Zabuza in a defensive stance the entire time.

Zabuza himself appeared to be shocked; he reached up to touch the fresh cut on his cheek. "You certainly have gotten better." He suddenly swung his sword at the girl; she deflected, rolling back.

Akina shot back forward immediately, thrusting her sword at Zabuza's stomach. The man pushed her sword aside with his own, but the girl merely spun, swinging for his head. Zabuza had to duck and roll away to avoid the thin blade.

"You're clumsy hacking won't be enough, Zabuza." Akina mocked. "Kubikiri Hōchō is heavy and slow, requiring a lot of strength behind every swing; Tsukikage is thin and light, allowing my movements to be swift and precise." The girl slunk back down into her fencing stance.

"You're right." He spoke, standing back up. Zabuza raised his free hand, making the sign for Kirigakure jutsu. "In that case, I'll fight like this."

Mist clouded the area around them, disrupting Akina's vision. "Yeah, well..." The girl shrugged and closed her eyes. She stood silent, her sword aloft, just like that time Sasuke spied her training in the forest.

"Allow me to pay you in kind, little girl." His voice echoed.

Akina inhaled deeply and slowly released her breath, easing her body into calm state. _Focus. Listen. See without seeing._

She heard the distinct whir of shuriken and spun, Tsukikage knocking the little blades away with a clang. There was a soft footstep to the left and she parried, metal clanging, and rolled to the right.

Zabuza chuckled. "Not bad for a brat. But do you really think you can fight me on sound alone?" Suddenly he was behind her and swung his sword down onto the girl's small frame. Only to have it splash into a puddle of water.

Zabuza was shocked.

"I am Mizuto Akina, daughter of Mizuto Akito..." this time it was she who appeared behind Zabuza. "...and Uchiha Ayame." Her once pale violet eyes glowed red as blood. "I may not be as experienced as Kakashi-sensei, but I can hold my own."

Zabuza turned to glance over his shoulder. "You cheeky little brat."

She managed to slice him across his side before he jumped away. Zabuza held his wound for a moment before glancing down at his bloodied hand. He chuckled. He actually chuckled. "You really have it in you, don't you, kid?"

Akina glared back at him.

"If you had been born in the Mist, maybe you would have already done it."

Akina's eyes widened slightly. A memory that was just barely there flashing across her vision.

She noticed just a fraction too late when Zabuza moved. Kubikiri Hōchō sliced through her left shoulder just when she tried to roll away. Zabuza surrounded her with clones then, they threw shuriken and kunai at her from all directions. Akina barely had time to land back into her fencing stance before the dance began. Her music was the sound of metal clanging against metal and she moved despite the sting of Shuriken and Kunai occasionally hitting her back. Red bloomed in smatters across the pavement of the bridge floor with each twirl and step. It was getting harder to maneuver Tsukikage with her dominant arm damaged. She felt light headed, had she lost that much blood already? The clones suddenly disappeared and Akina stopped to breath, sweat and blood dripping down her arms. She could feel the sting of metal in her back. A sudden wave of dizziness overcame the girl before she suddenly collapsed to her knees. Was that it, then? Was that all she was capable of? She breathed heavily, still gripping her sword.

Zabuza towered over the small girl and she was scared of him for the first time since their meeting. He glared down at her for a long moment. "Kakashi..." Zabuza called, the mist dissipating around them.

"Yeah..." She heard her Sensei reply from somewhere she couldn't see.

She turned to where she knew the ice mirrors must be, seeing Sasuke and Naruto standing in the middle, looking worse for wear. And damn did her shoulder hurt when she moved. In fact everything was starting to hurt really badly.

"Akina, don't move." She could see Kakashi now. He had knelt down beside her and gently forced her to lay down on her right side.

"Sensei." She wanted to protest, but another round of dizziness shut her up.

"Don't worry. This will only take a few minutes." Kakashi smiled before he stood and she watched as the two adults walked a little ways off. Her vision quickly became blury.

 _Would mom and dad be disappointed in me? I shouldn't have rushed in. I should have trained more. I miss Shikamaru... And Hinata and Choji and Kiba. And little Akamaru. I want to hug Akamaru again so badly. I hope Sakura will be okay. She's smart enough not to get herself killed, right? If only she was smart enough not to let boys control her life. Speaking of Sasuke... Why do I feel like I would miss you all of a sudden, you stupid idiot? You and Naruto both. Guess we did spend a lot of time together in those trees. If you two die I swear I will haunt you!_

...

"Akina!"

 _No... just let me be._

"Akina?"

 _Who's bothering me anyway?_

"Akina!"

"You shouldn't touch her! Naruto! Go get someone!"

"R-right!"

 _Why are people yelling? Is that Sakura crying?_

Sasuke was kneeling down next to Akina's body. "Stupid…you should have listened…" He brushed the hair from her face. "Why you?" He lowered his head, touching his forehead to hers. "I couldn't protect you again." He whispered. "Why am I so weak? What will I do without you?"

A cough was heard. Sasuke shot up, looking down in shock.

"You're not going to…cry again…are you…?"

Sakura was crying. "Akina! Your alive!" She rushed over.

"Really? I don't feel like it." She groaned. Her back was killing her.

Akina tried to sit up, but she could barely move her left arm and her back felt like it was on fire. She wasn't entirely sure, but she couldn't quite feel her legs. Maybe it was just the cold. She was freezing.

"You shouldn't move!" Sakura warned, gently pressing her back down. "You... you need a doctor."

"Akina, I'm sorry I didn't intervene sooner." That was Kakashi; the girl turned her head to look up at her teacher. He had a very apologetic look in his eyes.

"Guys... don't look at me like I'm dead already."

"But we thought you were." Sakura whispered, tears welling in her eyes.

"It's a miracle, really." Kakashi knelt down next to her. "Zabuza missed your vital organs."

"Well, don't I feel lucky." She glanced over to Sasuke, who had been quiet since she had awoken. "Hey..."

He was silent for a long moment, just staring at her face. "H-hey yourself..."

Akina smiled. "So... I take it we won? Since we're not all dead."

"Y-yeah..." He looked away.

The girl was silent for a long moment. "Guys...seriously. You're all starting to freak me out."

"J-just don't move. We'll get you to a doctor soon." Sakura reassured.

It was then that two men came by with a cart. Naruto seemed to have been escorting them, and he was shocked to see her awake. "Akina! You're alive!"

"Shockingly..." She replied.

"Will we be able to move her?" Kakashi asked the men seriously.

"If we do it slowly."

"Here, get this board underneath her."

Akina didn't know what was going on, all she knew was that it felt like fire was ripping through her when Sasuke and Sakura rolled her over. She screamed in pain. Kakashi and one of the other men slid the board underneath her and lifted her up with it before gently placing her on the cart. She was in agony by the time they rolled her off the bridge. Sasuke followed closely behind, carrying her nodachi in his arms. He never once lost eye contact with the girl, not even when she lost consciousness once again.

...

Two weeks later the Konoha ninja all stood in the woods near where they had done their training; there were two crosses in front of them, Zabuza's sword stuck in the ground behind one and Haku's sash was draped around the other. They stood there, offering their prayers before it was time to leave the land of waves.

Sakura walked up with Naruto and hung a string of flowers on Haku's cross, just as she'd previously done for Zabuza's. Sasuke and Kakashi were standing a ways back with Akina sitting on the ground between them. The girl couldn't walk or stand, at least not for a few more weeks. Zabuza had missed her vital organs, but his attacks had damaged some nerves in her back and legs, nearly paralyzing her. Kakashi said she had been lucky. Sakura had cried more. Naruto had left the room. But Sasuke. Sasuke had just stared at her endlessly. It had gotten to the point that she'd asked Kakashi to remove the boy from the room and not allowed him back in until she was released.

Now she sat on the ground, watching Sakura slap Naruto's hand away from the offering tray. "What sneaky, greedy trick are you up to now? You eat an offering you'll be punished by the gods!"

Naruto just smiled and laughed a bit.

Akina laughed too. "At least everything is back to normal."

Sasuke snickered, then stopped when his gaze reached Akina's legs. The look in his eyes was clear. No. Everything was not back to normal.

Sakura merely stared at Haku's grave. "…But still…Kakashi sensei…"

"Hmm?" Was his simple reply, as usual.

"…I can't help wondering. Were those two right about what a ninja should be?" She asked.

"A shinobi shouldn't be concerned with a reason for her own existence… It is important merely that we exist as a tool for our homeland to use in whatever way they need. That's as true for us in Konohagakure as it is for ninja anywhere else." Kakashi explained.

"Is that really what becoming a full-fledged ninja's gonna be about?" Naruto asked. "I don't like the sound of it!"

"Do you really feel that way, Kakashi sensei?" Sasuke asked, glancing toward their teacher.

"Well…no." He answered truthfully. "And that's why all we ninja live our lives with that ideal always bubbling beneath the surface of our minds, disturbing us."

"…Like it did Zabuza and Haku…" Akina added, sadly. She'd been told of everything that'd happened during the time she was "dead", making her change the way she felt about the two mist ninja. "It's a never ending cycle, isn't it?"

"Hmm… right." Kakashi replied humorously.

She glared. "Don't go "Hmm…right"! And what's with that tone?!"

Kakashi merely stared at the sky, smiling.

"That's it. I've made up my mind!" They all looked to Naruto. "I am going to create my own ninja path. My own destiny!"

The Mizuto girl smiled and nodded. "Uh-huh!"

Kakashi smiled too.

...

At the bridge Mr. Tazuna, Tsunami, Inari, and a man they learned was named Giichi came to say their goodbyes to the ninja who had saved their village.

Sasuke was carrying Akina on his back and Kakashi was carrying the two genin's packs and Akina's sword.

"Thanks to you, our bridge has finally been completed, but…it's going to be awfully dull around here, once you're gone." Mr. Tazuna announced.

Kakashi smiled politely. "We've enjoyed your hospitality."

"No problemo, Tazuna, my man! We'll come back to play with you again sometime!" Naruto grinned.

Inari looked like he was about to cry. "You better…"

Now Naruto looked like he was about to cry as well. "So…um…anyway…" He put on an odd looking grin. "Inari…don't let it get you down. It's okay to cry, if you really want!"

"I'm not gonna cry!" Inari shouted. "B-but Naruto… Hey, big brother…y-you can cry! Go ahead!"

Naruto turned away. "Me? No way. See you."

Inari reached outward in slight disappointment. "Oh!"

They both started blubbering, tears and snot running down their faces.

"Boneheads!" Sakura and Akina both mumbled.

And the five Konoha ninja began the long journey home.

"All right! Let's get home." Naruto cheered. "Iruka sensei's gonna take me out for ramen noodles to celebrate us accomplishing our mission! And then, you know, I have to tell little Konohamaru my epic tale of martial arts bravery!"

"Oh…uh…okay." Sakura mumbled. "By the way, Sasuke… when we do get home…would you like to…go out with me?"

"Uh, no. Thanks." Sasuke turned away.

"N-no…?…" Sakura asked in disbelief.

"Hey! I'll go out with you!" Naruto said.

"Naruto! No! Knock it off!" Sakura started hitting him.

Akina was laughing the whole time. Kakashi just sighed.


	13. Home sweet Konoha!

Chapter Thirteen: Home sweet Konoha!

If you haven't read the updated version of chapter 12 "Dreams of Snow", please read it before reading this.

Also I appreciate any and all reviews. It really helps to know how this story is doing, so if you have the time please leave a review. Even if it's just to say that you like the story or if there is something you don't like. Reviews keep me going.

AND please note that I have extremely limited access to the internet right now, so updates will only be available when I have access. Sorry everyone.

Enjoy?

Disclaimer: If I owned it then I wouldn't need to write fanfiction.

...

Once team seven arrived back in Konoha Akina was immediately admitted into the hospital.

Sasuke refused to leave her side, which quickly annoyed the Mizuto girl.

"Seriously... I don't need a babysitter." She huffed, crossing her arms.

Sasuke ignored her pouting. "I'm the only family member here until Mai arrives."

"That is a lame excuse and we both know it." She glared.

The boy blushed slightly. "I can't leave you alone."

"I'm not going to die." She sighed. Sasuke flinched. "Uh... sorry..."

The two sat in silence for a long while.

"Mai's here..." Akina suddenly spoke.

"Wha-?" Sasuke wondered how she always did that.

"Oh, no! Oh, no! Oh, no!" They heard the woman's voice echoing down the hall along with her frantic footsteps.

Soon the door burst open and there stood the dark haired Kunoichi, rattled and crying the moment she laid eyes on the pair of cousins. "Akina!" without much warning she had the girl in a crushing embrace.

Sasuke slowly started to move away, but Mai quickly caught the boy by the shirt and pulled him in for a group hug.

"How did this happen?" Mai cried out, sniffling away tears. "I was worried sick when they told me you arrived home injured."

"I'm okay... mostly." Akina muttered.

"Not okay. You should have listened to me." Sasuke shot back.

Mai hugged them both close. "You have plenty of time to tell me the story. Right now I am just glad you are both alive. Your parents would never forgive me."

"It wouldn't have been your fault..." Both children spoke up, Mai burst out into tears once more.

After a few moments of hugging and sitting together there was a knock on the door. The doctor opened the door and walked in, glancing back and forth between the three of them. "You must be Akina's caregiver?"

Mai sniffled, wiping away her tears, and stood to greet the doctor. "I am Chiyoshi Mai, Akina's godmother."

"Well, then. About Akina's condition." The doctor spoke in a serious voice. "As you are both family members I can tell you that her condition is very serious and it will take some time for her to heal. She was lucky not to have been paralyzed from the nerve damage in her back."

Mai's lip quivered, but she kept herself from crying in front of the doctor. "How long?"

"At least a month. She may not fully heal for even longer than that. I would suggest no strenuous activity for at least two months. That means no taking on missions that require too much physical activity." The doctor gave Akina a pointed look. "And you will not move from that bed for at least three weeks."

Akina sighed. "I get it."

The doctor nodded and turned to Mai. "May I speak with you outside, Miss. Chiyoshi?"

"What? Y-yes, of course." Mai followed the doctor nervously, not wanting to hear more bad news.

"What's that about?" Akina grumbled.

Sasuke sighed and shrugged. "Maybe Mai will tell us when she comes back."

Akina scoffed. "Yeah right. She's good at keeping secrets. That's why she's a good councilor."

Sasuke couldn't help but snort at that.

When Mai did return to the room she appeared happier, but it was a fake sort of happy that people put on when they don't want other people to know they are worried. Akina knew better, but she didn't say anything.

"Well then... I'm guessing you two haven't eaten lunch, right? Should I go fetch us something?" Mai asked.

Akina perked up. "Can we have Ichiraku ramen? And I want grilled fish!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes, Mai giggled.

"Sure. Sure. What would you like, Sasuke?" The woman turned to the boy.

Sasuke shrugged. "Ramen is fine."

"Really?" Akina spoke doubtfully. "But I thought you didn't like ramen."

Sasuke turned away, his face coloring slightly. "I don't hate it."

Mai chuckled. "Ramen it is, then. I'll be back as soon as I can." With that she left the room.

There was silence for a short moment while the two listened to the woman's footsteps fade down the hall.

"So you don't hate it, huh? And here I thought you hated everything." Akina teased.

"I don't hate you." Sasuke replied without looking at the girl.

Akina didn't say a word after that.

The cousins were silent and refused to look at each other when Mai eventually returned with lunch. "Everything okay?" She asked hesitantly, knowing the two often got into fights. "You two look like you've been fighting. Have you been fighting?"

"No!" Both cousins answered at once, causing them both to blush.

Mai blinked, mildly surprised by their reactions. "Okay then... I have lunch." She held up the bag from Ichiraku and shook it gently.

"Yay! Ramen!" Akina happily pulled her bed tray over her lap and allowed Mai to serve her.

Sasuke rolled his eyes and accepted the take out bowl and chopsticks that were handed to him while he watched Akina dig right in. The boy sighed, but couldn't help a small smile from appearing on his lips.

"What?" Akina grumbled, mistaking the unusual smile for one of Sasuke's usual smirks.

"Nothing." The boy grumbled back, turning away with his food.

Not too long after lunch there was a knock at the door. Akina blinked in surprise and was about to speak when Mai opened the door, revealing Shikamaru and his mother. Yoshino walked in first, quickly embracing Akina with tears in her eyes. "Akina, Mai told me what happened and we rushed over as soon as Shikamaru was finished with today's mission."

Akina smiled, tears brimming at her own eyes. "Thank you." She glanced over Yoshino's shoulder and reached a hand out for Shikamaru, who was busy having a glaring contest with Sasuke.

The Nara boy noticed her, however, and quickly went to the girl's bedside, taking her hand. "Akina..." Shikamaru was for once at a loss for words. He never in his worst nightmares would have imagined seeing her in a hospital bed like this.

She smiled at him, her usual smile that said everything was going to be okay. Shikamaru nodded, letting a little sigh escape his lips. He held her hand and sat down on the bed, staring into Akina's eyes.

Meanwhile Sasuke rolled his eyes, grumbling something and shuffling over to the window.

Mai stood watch over them, tilting her head at Sasuke's reactions to Shikamaru. She had never seen the two boys in the same room before and it was clear that they did not get along.

"I'm afraid we won't be able to stay long." Yoshino suddenly spoke up. "Visiting hours are almost over."

"No fair! You just got here!" Akina whined.

"We will come visit again, I promise." Yoshino giggled, tucking a strand of hair behind Akina's ear in a motherly manner.

The violet haired girl turned towards her best friend. "You'll visit me, won't you, Shikamaru?" She gave the boy her best doe-eyed stare.

Shikamaru blushed and turned away. "Yeah, yeah... So troublesome."

Akina beamed at him.

Not too long after that they were saying their goodbyes. Akina didn't want to let go of Shikamaru's hand, but she did, slowly letting his fingers drift from her grasp.

"Next time I'll bring you some pickled plums." Yoshino promised before leaving Akina's side and heading for the door.

"See ya." Shikamaru waved over his shoulder, though he did turn back to look at her once before turning the corner around the door frame, following his mother out.

Sasuke sighed as though he had been holding his breath the entire time. The boy looked tired.

"Sasuke, you should go home and get some rest. I can't imagine you've had any after traveling back home." Mai spoke up, concerned for the boy's wellbeing.

"I'm fine." He muttered, turning away to glare out the window.

Akina huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. "He's refused to leave my side. I had to have him forcefully removed back in the land of waves."

Mai glanced between the two children. "Sasuke, do you need to talk about what happened? We can borrow one of the empty rooms-"

"I said I'm fine!" Sasuke snapped, turning to send a glare at the two females. "And I don't want to talk about it right now, okay?"

"Alright..." Mai raised a placating hand. She was used to Sasuke's temperament and it was always his choice whether or not to seek counseling. "I won't force you, Sasuke. Just know that I will always be here to listen when you are ready."

Akina huffed again. "This doesn't fix the problem."

Mai coughed. "Right... Sasuke, just as I cannot force you to talk about the situation, if Akina wants to be alone, you need to respect that. Do you understand?"

Sasuke sighed, moving away from the window. "Yeah, I get it." He passed Mai, sending Akina what could only be described as a longing look, before leaving the room.

Akina threw her head back against the pillows. "UGH! I will never understand him."

Mai smiled calmly. "He's trying."

"Trying my patience." Akina grumbled.

The woman giggled. "I believe he truly wants to make amends. You two are the only family each other has, after all."

"I have you... and I have Shika and Mrs. and Mr. Nara and Choji and Hinata. I have lots of family." Akina argued.

Mai smiled sadly, walking over and brushing a strand of hair from Akina's face. "Fine. But you are the only Family Sasuke has and he is trying to keep you safe in the only way he knows how."

Akina silently grumbled, not looking Mai in the eyes. She was right. Aunt Mai was always right in the end. "Sometimes it sucks having a councilor for an aunt."

"I'll take that as a compliment." Mai giggled before heading for the door. "You get some rest. I'll wake you for dinner."

Akina nodded and settled down into the bed, soon drifting off to sleep.

Akina dreamed of a much younger Sasuke. This Sasuke was shy and meek and followed Akina around like a puppy. She hadn't minded it back then, though she had teased him a couple times for being a cry baby. Once there were two older Uchiha boys who liked to pick on Sasuke. Big brother wasn't there, so Akina had taken it upon herself to defend her cousin. She was smaller, but certainly not meek. The two boys had beaten her up all the same. Sasuke had cried. Big brother had been so angry when he found out. Though they were never bothered by those two boys again after that.

"Akina?"

"Hmmm...?" Came the girl's distracted reply. She continued her drawing, scrawling notes here and there for later.

"You have visitors." Mai spoke again.

The girl looked up to see Shikamaru and Choji. "Hey, guys!" She waved them over happily.

"Hey." Shikamaru walked in, taking a seat in the chair near her bed.

"Hey, Akina." Choji followed Shikamaru somewhat nervously, glancing around the room. "So you really were hurt badly, huh?"

Akina shrugged. "I'm alive."

Mai huffed. "Alive with a gash in your left shoulder and multiple wounds in your back, but yes, you are alive."

Choji cringed. "Oh man, Akina."

Akina sent her aunt a mild glare before turning to smile at her friend. "Just look at it this way, Choji, I'll have lots of cool scars to show off!"

"Most girls wouldn't brag about that." Shikamaru pointed out.

"Well, I'm not most girls." Akina crossed her arms and huffed.

Choji smiled. "It's good to see you are still the same." He then lifted a bag he had been holding in his hands. "I brought some snacks!"

"Oooo! Yummy!" Akina reached her hands out, making a grabbing motion with her fingers.

The three genin laughed and shared the snacks. Mai excused herself from the room, allowing the children to have some time alone.

"So how have your missions been?" Akina asked before popping a chip into her mouth.

"Boring for the most part." Shikamaru answered.

"Certainly nothing like your last mission." Choji added.

Akina rolled her eyes. "I'll take a boring mission any day. Being stuck here in this bed is killing me. I already spent two weeks in a bed in the Land of Waves."

Choji paled at the idea.

"Just a couple more weeks and they let you out, right?" Shikamaru asked.

Akina nodded. "Yeah. They just want to make sure I'm healing properly before sending me home. The Land of Waves is a poor country, so the best they could do was patch me up."

"So... what did happen out there?" Shikamaru spoke hesitantly.

Akina sighed. "I got into a fight I probably should have stayed out of. He was stronger than me."

"You're not the type to stay out of a fight." Choji remarked, shoving a couple chips into his mouth.

"Yeah. It's a real pain, but Akina wouldn't be Akina if she stood back on the sidelines and just watched." Shikamaru added.

Akina smiled. "Thanks, guys."

The boys stayed a couple hours more and then Sasuke showed up, finished with his missions for the day.

He and Shikamaru shared a glare with each other before Sasuke took the seat near the window.

Choji glanced back and forth between the Uchiha and his other two friends. He of course knew of Akina and Sasuke's relation to each other, but he also knew the two did not get along. Or at least they hadn't gotten along before. Choji leaned over and whispered. "What's Sasuke doing here?"

Akina waved a hand in the air. "Just ignore him." She heard Sasuke huff from the window.

Shikamaru sighed, glancing at the clock on the wall. "Well, looks like visiting hours are nearly over anyway."

Choji also glanced at the clock. "Aww."

"Booo!" Akina puffed out her cheeks and crossed her arms.

Shikamaru snickered. "I'll come see you tomorrow.

"You better." Akina pouted.

Shikamaru couldn't help but smile. "So troublesome." He touched Akina's hand before standing up, motioning for Choji to follow.

"Keep the rest of the snacks." Choji stood and waved before following Shikamaru out the door.

A few moments after the two boys left Sasuke walked over and sat down on the bed near Akina's legs. He picked up one of the snack bags, eyeing it warily. "I can't believe you eat this crap."

"I can't believe you eat tomatos." Akina huffed, crossing her arms.

"Tomatos are good for you, unlike this junk." The boy argued.

"Tomatos are just red balls of acid." The girl shot back, crinkling her nose in disgust. "At least chips taste good."

Sasuke sighed, shaking his head and placing the bag of chips back down. "It's surprising you aren't fat with the way you eat."

Akina stuck her tongue out. "Maybe I will get fat. Who cares?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes.

The next day it was not Shikamaru and Choji who knocked on Akina's hospital room door, but Hinata and Kiba.

"Hi, Hinata! Hi, Kiba!" Akina waved from her bed.

"H-hi, Akina." Hinata replied meekly, glancing at Akina's crossed legs on the bed. "We... we came as soon as we heard."

"Wow! You really did go and have an amazing battle, didn't you, Akina?" Kiba rushed forward, wanting to hear the story.

"I wouldn't call it amazing..." The Mizuto girl glanced away from her friends.

"No way! Naruto said you were awesome!" Kiba gushed. A resounding yip came from his jacket.

Akina's eye's instantly lit up. "Akamaru!"

A fluffy head popped up from the front of Kiba's jacket and Akina grabbed for the pup. Kiba snickered and handed the dog over.

"I missed you, Akamaru!" Akina nuzzled and cuddled the puppy.

Kiba sighed. "What am I, chopped liver?"

"I-I'm sure she didn't mean it like that, K-Kiba." Hinata slowly scooted her way into the room.

Akina waved a hand. "Sure. Sure. I missed you, too, Kiba." She then went back to snuggling the little dog.

"W-we got you something, Akina." Hinata shyly revealed an Iris from behind her back, it was Akina's favorite, the flower her mother was named after.

"Aww! Thank you! You remembered my favorite flower." Akina motioned for Hinata to place the small vase on the table by the window.

"Ino sends her regards, by the way." Kiba spoke up, watching the shy girl carefully place the vase on the table as though she might break it.

Akina blinked. "Ino does? Really? And here I thought she didn't even remember my name."

"Of course she does." Hinata whispered, poking her fingers together. "I think Ino is more considerate than she seems."

Akina smiled at Hinata. She always thought the best of people. "Maybe you are right."

After that the three sat around and discussed their sensei. Akina thought that Kurenai must be a wonderful teacher with the way Hinata gushed about her. She rarely saw the other girl so spirited. Kiba himself boasted a little about their teacher and their team as a whole, but mostly he talked about Akamaru's progress in training. Akina continued to pet and cuddle the pup, she really had missed him.

It was a while later that Shikamaru walked in, knocking on the door while he opened it. "Hey! Sounds like you don't need me. You've practically got a party in here."

Akina snorted. "Come on! Get in here!"

Shikamaru smiled and sauntered in, hands in his pockets. He gave Hinata a polite nod and sent Kiba a warning look. The other boy slowly moved away from Akina, leaving room for Shikamaru to sit next to her on the bed.

Hinata giggled, blushing heavily. Kiba gave her a mildly annoyed glance.

"Hello, Shikamaru." Akina cooed, stroking Akamaru like an evil villain might do while facing their arch nemesis.

Shikamaru snickered and rolled his eyes. "I believe you're supposed to be holding a cat."

Akamaru growled lightly. Akina smiled, patting the pup's head. "Well I don't currently have access to a cat. And besides, little Akamaru is the cutest doggy!" She picked the puppy up and rubbed their noses together. Akamaru wagged his tail happily and licked Akina's nose.

They all laughed a little.

"My, my, there are some happy voices in here." Mai spoke while stepping through the door, she brought a large wrapped bento along with her. "But I'm afraid it's dinner time. Visiting hours are nearly over."

"I'm getting really sick of this visiting hours thing." Akina pouted.

Hinata took Akina's hand. "I-I'm sorry, Akina. You must be so lonely."

Akina blushed lightly. "N-not really. Aunt Mai is always here fussing over me."

Mai gave the girl a look, but otherwise ignored the comment. "And Sasuke..."

This time it was Akina's turn to glare.

"Sasuke?" Both Hinata and Kiba asked in confusion.

"Since when does Sasuke hang around you?" Kiba piped up.

"I t-thought you two were s-still fighting." Hinata spoke timidly.

Akina huffed. "I don't know what we are right now."

Suddenly the door opened. Everyone in the room looked to see Sasuke, who merely rolled his eyes and walked to the seat by the window.

"Shit. He just comes in like he owns the place." Kiba muttered, glaring at Sasuke, who glared right back, clearly hearing the Inuzuka boy.

"Oh no!" Hinata tugged at Kiba's jacket. "Kiba, we should really go. Mai said visiting hours are over."

The boy growled once then sighed, relenting. He turned to Akina and reached out for Akamaru. "See ya later, Akina."

The girl sighed dramatically and handed the puppy back to its owner. "Bye bye, Akamaru!"

Hinata giggled while Kiba pouted, sighing again. "Goodbye, Akina. We will visit again when we can." Hinata waved and pressed Kiba out the door.

"You too, Shikamaru. Sorry." Mai spoke while setting up Akina's dinner.

"Yeah." The boy replied, standing up from beside Akina on the bed. "See ya." He squeezed the girl's hand a moment before leaving the room.

Akina sighed.

"I'm sorry, dear." Mai spoke, setting the girl's dinner in front of her.

"Yeah, it's fine."

A few days later Akina awoke suddenly in the middle of the night. She had thought she was dreaming at first, but the lump beside her moved. She blinked in the darkness, unsure at first if she really believed what she thought she saw huddled beneath her blankets.

"Sasuke?" She whispered, blinking again.

The mop of black hair moved and a pair of dark eyes blinked back at her.

"What are you doing here?!" She spoke quietly, but harshly. "It's the middle of the night and you're in my bed and-"

"I had a nightmare..."

She stopped, blinking again. "What?"

Sasuke sighed, sitting up in the bed, he wiped a hand over his face. "I've been having nightmares... About that day on the bridge."

Akina sighed as well. "Sasuke... you need to talk to Aunt Mai."

"Yeah. I will. Just... just let me stay here tonight, okay?" Sasuke asked, his face red as a tomato.

Akina blushed as well. "No way! Get out of my bed!" She tried to push him out, but it was no use.

"What's the problem? We slept together all the time when we were little kids." Sasuke spoke in an annoyed tone.

"We're not little kids anymore. It's weird!" Akina argued, pushing him again.

Sasuke gave her a sour face. "You honestly think I would do anything to you of all people?"

Akina returned the look. "I'm going to ignore that on account that I physically can't kill you right now."

Sasuke smirked. "You also can't physically remove me from this bed."

"Maybe I can't, but the nurses can." Akina took a deep breath.

Sasuke quickly placed a hand over her mouth. "Shush! Stop!"

"Then leave!" She demanded from behind Sasuke's hand.

"Quiet!" Sasuke demanded back in a whisper. Both of them were silent for a moment, listening as a pair of nurses walked past Akina's door and down the hall.

"Get out!" She snapped once the two were gone.

Sasuke sighed, removing his hand from the girl's face. "Akina... I haven't slept since we got back."

"Don't try to guilt trip me."

"I could always sleep next to you when I had nightmares."

"Sasuke..."

"Don't make me beg."

"Have you met me? I would totally make you beg."

Sasuke stared into Akina's eyes, there was a true look of sadness and she could see the tired circles around his eyes. "Akina... pl-"

"Okay... Fine..." She crossed her arms and huffed. "Just for tonight, then tomorrow you start talking to Aunt Mai."

"Yeah." Sasuke yawned and rolled over, pulling the covers up to his chin.

Akina sighed. For the longest time she just lay there, listening to Sasuke's breathing. _He really did just fall asleep like that?_ She rolled over to look at him, but could only see the back of his head. "Are you really asleep?"

Nothing.

She poked his head with a finger.

Sasuke made a noise and rolled over, but he was very clearly asleep.

Akina sighed again. "Well, now I can't sleep." _And I can't leave the bed, either..._

The next morning Akina awoke to Mai bustling around the room. She startled at first, feeling around next to her on the bed.

Mai turned around. "Oh! Akina, good morning. Hmm. Is something wrong, dear? Did you lose something?"

"N-no... I didn't." Akina glanced around. "Where is Sasuke?"

Mai tapped a finger to her chin curiously. "Sasuke? I haven't seen him yet this morning."

 _That's a relief... he managed to get out before anyone found him._

"Akina, what's going on?" Mai asked, looking worried.

The violet haired girl held her hands up in defense. "N-nothing. I just... had a nightmare..."

Mai dropped her hand, letting out a breathy sigh. "Do you need to talk? You know I'm always here if you need to talk."

"I think I'll be okay. Thanks, Aunt Mai." Akina smiled to show she was okay.

It wasn't long before Sasuke showed up. The two cousins didn't look at each other until Sakura came to fetch Sasuke for their mission.

Sasuke was heading out the door when he stopped suddenly. "One second, Sakura." He peeked back in the doorway, glancing at Akina before looking to Mai. "Mai... Um... Can we talk tonight?"

The woman smiled and nodded. "Of course, Sasuke."

The boy nodded and gave his cousin another glance before leaving.

Akina could have sworn she saw him smile, but surely she was hallucinating.

The following days went by much the same as previous ones. Akina stayed in her bed, moving only when necessary. Usually she would draw or write in her journal. Mai would bring her meals, luckily nothing home cooked unless it was from a neighbor or Mrs. Nara. Sometimes her friends would visit after their missions, Shikamaru more often than anyone else. Mrs. Nara would visit on occasion. She even brought Akina those pickled plums she promised. Sasuke kept his word and started talking to Mai after his missions and he finally left Akina alone.

But now, for the most part, Akina was just bored. Not moving around was the hardest thing she had ever done in her life. Back in the land of waves she had been asleep most of the time she was in their small hospital. At that time it was Sakura who had brought her meals and sat with her. And of course Sasuke was there. He wouldn't leave until Kakashi dragged him out after the first week. Akina had been in so much pain that first week, she was still in pain if she was honest. It hurt to draw and write sometimes, but she wouldn't show it. Her arm had healed as well as it could have considering the circumstances. Maybe Kakashi didn't tell her out of some worry for how she might react, but deep down Akina knew she had nearly lost her arm that day. She had nearly lost many things that day.

"Akina? Are you okay?" Sakura asked, waving a hand in front of the other girl's face.

The violet haired girl shook her head, clearing her mind. "Yes, Sakura. I'm fine. What were you saying?"

The pinkette sighed. "I said: It's a very lovely flower."

"Huh?" Akina blinked a few times before remembering the Iris Hinata and Kiba had brought for her. "Oh! Yes. It's my favorite."

"Ayame, isn't it?" Sakura asked, gazing at the purple flower.

Akina nodded. "Yes. It's the flower my mother was named after."

"Oh..." Sakura looked away from the flower to see Akina glazing at it sadly. "Your parents... what-"

"They were killed. Murdered in our home." Akina didn't look away from the flower. "I found them..."

Sakura covered her mouth with a hand. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have-"

"It was all red. The entire room. And I..." The Mizuto girl just stared at the flower as though she were in a trance, lost in a long forgotten memory.

Sakura reached out as though to touch the girl's arm, but held back. "Akina?"

Akina unfroze and turned to Sakura. "Then I went to live with Sasuke's family. Uncle Fugaku and Aunt Mikoto were nice to me and of course Sasuke clung to me like I would disappear even though big brot-" Suddenly the door opened, startling both girls.

Sasuke walked in, appearing angry. He sent Akina a glare.

"Oh! Sasuke, it's you! You startled me." Sakura giggled, her hand placed on her chest, over her heart.

Sasuke just then seemed to notice the pinkette. "Sakura, can you excuse me and my _cousin_ for a minute?"

 _Ooo... Not good. He never refers to me as his cousin..._

The girl blinked a few times before slowly standing up from the chair beside Akina's bed. "O-of course. I'll just be down the hall." She quickly left the room and silence hung in the air.

Akina smiled sheepishly. "Heeey, Sas-"

"You idiot!" He snapped. "What did you think you were doing just blabbing on to her like that?"

The girl glanced away. "I wasn't really-"

"You were going to talk about _**him**_ in front of _**her**_!" Sasuke nearly shouted, stepping towards the bed.

Akina's left hand twitched. "Like you are one to talk! You did that twice already!"

Sasuke stopped mid step, his face twisted with forgotten memories and realization that Akina was indeed correct. "That... I just... It's just not any of your business to talk about it!"

She snapped at that, picking up her journal and tossing it in the direction of Sasuke's head. The boy easily dodged the book and was about to snap back at the girl when he looked up. "Are you craz-"

Akina was holding her left shoulder, tears brimming her eyes. She had used her left arm to throw the book.

"Hey... Are you okay?" Sasuke practically rushed to her side. "It hurts?"

She turned away. "I... I'm fine. Just leave me alone." She couldn't help the tears from falling, though. She felt the weight shift on the bed and then arms around her, gentle on her left side. And she felt his chin resting against her shoulder.

Neither one said anything for a long moment.

"I-I'm really fine, okay? You can let go." She wanted to shrug him off, but didn't want to risk hurting her shoulder.

"How bad does it hurt?" Sasuke asked quietly.

Akina sighed. "Not that much."

"You're crying. You never cry."

"I cry plenty... You just don't see it."

"You only cry about stupid things."

"Do not..."

"Akina... It's serious."

"Don't tell anyone... please."

During the second half of the month Akina started learning to walk again. And Sasuke was back to being her shadow when he wasn't out on missions.

"Seriously, Sasuke, I don't need you to hover over me. You are as bad as Aunt Mai."

Sasuke held his hands out while she took careful steps across the room with her crutches. "Yesterday you fell getting out of bed by yourself."

"And I didn't die." She snapped.

Sasuke flinched, his hands lowering a fraction.

Akina sighed. She knew it was a low blow to mention death. She knew how much it hurt him, but sometimes he just made her so frustrated. "Look, Sasuke, I'm sorr-"

There was a knock on the door and Shikamaru peeked his head inside. "Hey, how's our patient?"

Sasuke sent the Nara boy a glare. "She's fine."

Shikamaru glared right back. "I wasn't asking you."

"I'm alright, Shika. Just learning how to walk again is hard." The girl took wobbly steps towards Shikamaru. "I hate crutches."

Shikamaru held his hands out like Sasuke had once Akina was close, but this time the girl didn't complain. This, of course, made Sasuke angry. Shikamaru was only looking at Akina. He laughed. "Knowing you, you'll just use them as swords."

"No way! These would make terrible swords!" She lifted one of the crutches to wave it around, but wobbled and started to fall over.

Both boys moved to catch her, but since Shikamaru was closer he reached her first, catching the girl around the waist and pulling her against his chest.

"Hey. You okay?" He asked, glancing down at her.

Akina looked up, nodding, her cheeks slightly flushed. "Yeah. I'm okay."

Sasuke huffed, crossing his arms and glancing away from the too, looking angry. "I told you."

Akina sighed and corrected her balance on the crutches with Shikamaru's help. "Don't even start."

"You need to be careful." Sasuke snipped, sending her a glare.

"Sasuke." The girl sent her own warning glare back at him.

Shikamaru sighed. "Akina, for once Sasuke is right." This earned him a glare from both of the cousins. "You could hurt yourself if you push too much. Take it slow like the doctor's said."

The girl sighed in defeat. "You're right. Sorry. I'll be careful."

"Why do you only listen to him?" Sasuke grumbled.

"Maybe my advice is just better than yours." Shikamaru sniggered.

"I'm her cousin, I'm looking out for what's best for her." Sasuke stared Shikamaru down.

Shikamaru stared right back, matching the Uchiha's glare. "Yeah. You're her cousin, not her boyfriend."

Sasuke took a step forward with his fists clenched, but Akina gave him a warning glare. "Alright, you two! You're fighting over me and that's really weird. So just stop it. Seriously."

Both boys seemed to deflate, they each gave Akina a look. Shikamaru one of sheepish embarrassment and Sasuke... Sasuke had a look on his face Akina had never really seen before. He was embarrassed for certain, but he also seemed confused and uncertain about something.

After heaving a frustrated sigh Sasuke pressed past the other two genin and headed towards the door. "I'll wait for Mai in the hall."

"Sasuke?" Akina took a step forward, but wobbled on her crutches. She had been standing far too long. The raven haired boy left, closing the door behind him and Shikamaru helped Akina back to her bed.

"What's his deal?" Shikamaru grumbled.

Akina sighed.

As the days passed Sasuke spent less time with Akina. When he was in the room he often gave her that confused look, like he didn't know which end of a kunai you hold. It was strange and Akina didn't like it. The Sasuke she knew was always so sure of himself. She couldn't help but wonder if his mood swings were affecting missions.

One afternoon the boy showed up while Mai was helping Akina with her leg stretches and he immediately left the room, saying he would wait in the hall.

"He's being weirder than usual. What's wrong with him? Has he said anything to you?" Akina grilled her aunt for answers.

Mai sighed. "Akina, you know I can't tell you anything that Sasuke tells me during our sessions. If he wants you to know he will tell you himself."

Akina huffed, but gave up anyway. She felt like Mai didn't actually know anything.

Akina was sitting by the window when Sasuke arrived the next day.

"You're not in bed." The boy spoke.

She continued gazing out the window, watching the day go by. "I'm so sick of that bed."

Sasuke glanced at the bed and after a moment of though he scrunched his nose. "I don't blame you."

"I want to go outside." Akina all but whispered.

"I can get a wheelchair."

"I want to _**walk**_ outside."

"Oh..." It was silent for a long moment. "Then walk."

"What?" Akina finally turned towards the boy.

Sasuke stood there, staring at Akina with some sort of resoluteness about him. "Walk."

Akina sighed. "What on earth are you going on about?"

"Walk over here to me." Sasuke clarified.

Akina blinked, then nodded, picking up her crutches. She stood from the chair and steadied herself before putting one foot in front of the other. She was a little wobbly, but managed to walk across the room without falling.

"There." Sasuke breathed out as though he had been holding it in.

Akina glanced up at him and smiled. "I think I'm getting the hang of it."

He smirked back down at her. "Yeah."

Soon it was time for Akina to leave the hospital. She had wanted to walk out, but Mai insisted that she wheel her out in a wheel chair. It was safer that way, she had said. Akina would have kicked and screamed if she had thought it would help her case. Her stamina may have been much lower than normal after healing, but she could at least manage to walk the halls a bit with her crutches now.

The nurses waved goodbye when they passed. Akina waved back at them, smiling and genuinely very happy to finally be leaving. Sasuke had been nowhere to be seen that day, which was odd. He usually came to check on her in the morning before his missions.

"Sasuke knows I'm leaving today, right?" She suddenly asked Mai, seeming to startle the woman somewhat.

"I believe so." Mai answered after a short moment of thought.

Akina nodded. "Okay."

"Is something wrong, dear?" Mai asked, peering down at the girl.

"It's nothing." Akina sighed. "Just don't let him come barging in my room at home, okay?"

Her aunt laughed. "I will do my best."

"I'm serious!"


	14. The wind stirs the Leaf!

Chapter Fourteen: The Wind stirs the Leaf!

Still without internet. Uploading when I can visit my parents or my friends who have internet. Living on a strict budget is hard. :(

Also writing comes and goes for me, so I'm not writing every single week.

Enjoy?

Disclaimer: If I owned it, then I wouldn't need to write fanfiction.

...

"Ahhhhhhh! ….It's so good to be freee!" Akina cried cheerfully, stretching her arms in the air.

"You've been saying that all month." Shikamaru chuckled.

The two friends were sitting on the ledge outside of Shikamaru's window. Watching the sunset. Shikamaru's big lazy cat hopped onto the purple haired girl's lap. She giggled. "Sorry. I'm just so happy to be home, to be alive!"

He sighed again. "Well, I suppose I can't complain…"

The girl gasped dramatically, placing a hand over her chest. "You, Nara Shikamaru, not complain?"

He glared at her lazily. "At least the Uchiha isn't constantly watching you like a stalker."

She looked down at her now healed legs; she was at least able to walk on her own again, though the doctors said she might still have some trouble if she over exerts herself. "Well... mostly. He's practically moved back into the house."

"That guy is so obsessed with you." He grumbled, laying back against the wall.

Akina's face flushed. "He's not obsessed! He's just...worried." She absently pet the cat in her lap. "He doesn't want to be alone like before."

Shikamaru snorted, rolling his eyes. "Sounds more like he just wants you all to himself again."

She huffed at that. "Well, you don't have to worry about me, Shikamaru. I'd much rather hang out with a complaining, lazy bum like you!"

He rolled his eyes again, but was actually quite happy to hear her say that.

Akina just smiled and watched the sun fall beyond the trees. "It's getting late. Guess I should go home." she picked the cat up, placing it in Shikamaru's lap, then stood.

Shikamaru yawned, now petting the cat. "See ya."

"And I guess you'll be going to bed, then?"

He glared lazily at her. "Some of us actually went on missions today."

She smiled and waved her hand up and down dramatically. "I know! I know! I was only kidding." She climbed inside and walked to Shikamaru's door, waving to the boy. "Well…see ya!" Then she left, taking the stairs down.

...

"I really need to stop staying out so late." The girl was only half way home and it was already completely dark out. Akina stopped suddenly and looked around slowly, watching for movement in the shadows; she'd felt the presence of someone following her. After a moment of silent observation she spoke. "I know you're there; show yourself!"

Suddenly a boy around the same age as Akina stepped out of the shadows. When he walked into the light of a nearby street lamp the girl took in his appearance; he had short, messy red hair and pale green irises. He wore thick eyeliner which barely masked the dark circles of sleep deprivation under his eyes, making him look kind of like a raccoon. He wore strange clothes and had what appeared to be a large gourd strapped to his back.

"Hmm… you noticed my presence… I'm impressed." He spoke in a low, drawling voice.

For some reason the look in this boy's eyes and the tone in his voice scared her. "Ah…yeah…" She took an instinctual step back. "Sorry, but I should really be going home." But suddenly the girl couldn't move another step; it was as if something had taken hold of her legs. She looked down and there was indeed something keeping a hold on her; it was sand, climbing up around her shins like an army of snakes. "S-sand jutsu?"

The boy slowly stepped closer to her until he was only a few inches away. "I find it odd." He stared directly into her eyes, unnerving the girl quite a bit.

Akina then took hold of her fear and glared at the redhead. "Let me go!"

He ignored her shouting and walked a slow circle around the girl, causing her to become nervous again.

 _What does he want? And who is he? He's obviously not from Konoha._

She was shocked out of her thoughts when he spoke next. "I see… you are the same as me." He took a hold of her left hand and traced the kanji of mist with a finger from his other, unoccupied hand. The purple haired girl shivered at the touch. It was so light, like a feather was being dragged across her skin, not at all like what she would've expected. How had he even seen the old scar? No one ever seemed to noticed it.

Suddenly she felt the pressure move away from her legs and watched as the sand returned to the gourd where it had originally come from, but he didn't release her hand. "What is your name?" He asked quietly; she almost hadn't heard him even from their close proximity.

"A-Akina. Mizuto Akina." She replied without thinking, still preoccupied by the finger that continued to trace the pale scar on her hand.

He appeared to mull over her name for a moment, his finger stopping it's motion. "Akina." He spoke her name softly, glancing back up into her eyes. There was something in his gaze she couldn't quite place. "I'm Gaara of the desert."

She nodded, only to show that she had been listening. His burning gaze was so pale, like sea foam. "You're from Suna?" She finally managed to speak.

"Yes." He reluctantly dropped her hand, tilting his head to the side to stare at her from another angle.

"Um... then what are you doing **here**?" She motioned around her.

A small, barely noticeable smile appeared across his lips. "I'm sure you'll find out soon enough." Gaara then turned around and walked right back into the shadows he had appeared from.

Akina stood there a while, her brain trying to process what had just happened. "Gaara of the desert, huh?"

Akina awoke the next morning with a killer headache. "Ow… Today is bound to be fun. Woo." She mumbled while climbing out of bed. The girl took her pain pills and headed to the bathroom to get ready. It was her first day back on duty and she was glad to have something to do besides lay around the house all day, despite how early she had to wake up for it.

"Though it's not like Kakashi sensei will be there on time." She mumbled along her way down the stairs. _Ugh! And I couldn't sleep at all!_ All she could think about were a pair of pale green eyes staring at her in the dark.

She crashed into Sasuke at the bottom if the stairs, her thoughts having been elsewhere.

"Hey! Are you okay?" The boy held her shoulders, steadying her. "Are you sure you are ready to go back on missions?"

"I'm fine!" The girl snapped, pulling away and backing up against the wall. "I don't need people treating me like a baby, Sasuke. Especially you!"

He didn't say anything in reply, just sent her a hurt glare.

Akina huffed. "We have a mission, right? Let's go." And pressed past her cousin, heading for the door.

Sasuke quickly followed her outside and down the road, hands in his pockets and looking grumpy. "You look tired."

"I'm fine."

"You're limping."

"I'm fine!"

"Akina."

She stopped suddenly, spinning around to face him. "I said I'm fine!"

He merely stared back, his expression serious. "You don't look fine."

"Well, thanks." The girl hissed back before starting down the road once again. Sasuke followed with a sigh. Akina's headache felt like it was getting worse and her legs itched where the sand had rubbed into her skin. What had been that guy's deal anyway? He was so creepy. And boy did he not understand personal space.

The two soon reached the meeting point and found Sakura there waiting.

"Hey, Sakura." Akina muttered with a half-hearted wave.

"Oh…Hi, Akina." Sakura spoke, staring past her to where Sasuke stood. "It's... good to see that you are well enough to go on missions with us again."

Akina glanced down at herself. "Oh…yeah. The doctors say I'm good to go so long as I don't over exert myself."

"You look tired… are you sure you're okay?" Sakura asked, true concern in her eyes.

The purple haired girl nodded and gave a half-smile-half grimace. "I'm fine. I just stayed out too late last night."

Sasuke had opened his mouth to speak, but suddenly a shout called from down the alleyway. "Good morning, Sakuraaa!" The blonde waved franticly, running towards them. "Oh! Hi, Akina! Feeling better?"

"Hello, Naruto." Akina replied with a small smile, waving to the blonde. "And yes, thank you. I feel much better."

"That's good. The missions have felt kinda strange without you, ya'know?" He scratched the back of his head, laughing. "But now team seven is back to full strength!" He pumped a fist in the air.

Suddenly Naruto caught Sasuke's eye and the two girls watched as the two boys stared each other down venomously before both turned away with angry grunts.

 _Jeez…they're even worse than befor_ e. Akina stepped over next to Sakura and leaned in so the other two wouldn't overhear. "Hey Sakura, what's with those two? Did something happen?"

She shrugged in exasperation. "I don't know. They've been acting this way ever since we returned from the land of waves. It's so embarrassing!"

The purple haired girl sighed. "I get the feeling my headache is about to get even worse."

Three hours later Kakashi finally made his appearance, walking up to the genin, waving cheerfully as if he wasn't more than three hours late. "Good morning, everyone. I'm afraid I got lost on the way here…"

"Your nose is growing, Sensei." Sakura shouted while pointing at the silver haired man accusingly.

"As ninja deceptions go…that one sucks!" Naruto gave the thumbs down.

Akina sighed. _My headache is most definitely getting worse._

"Hey, Kakashi sensei! Any new missions for the 7th cell?" Naruto shouted. "We want action! A challenge! Something where I could use my skill! Like this… and this… and-" Naruto began punching around in the air.

"Oh, really? I see where you're going with this…" Kakashi sighed.

 _I should've stayed home..._

After a moment the rest of team seven started walking away, leaving Naruto just standing there, lost in his own little fantasy world.

"Hey, Naruto! Wake up! We're heading out on our mission!"

"Yessir!"

"Would you chill?!"

...

The first mission was to pull the weeds from a woman's yard. Simple enough, right? And everything was going just fine until Naruto started pulling up every plant he could get his hands on, including the herbs that the woman was growing. When she came out and saw what he'd done she chased Naruto down and gave him a good beating.

Akina sighed. _Honestly…_

For the second mission the four genin were all out in a river, with tongs and basket, picking up trash. So simple. And, once again, everything was going just fine before Naruto suddenly tripped, sending the blonde down the nearby waterfall.

"Naruto!" Sakura and Akina shouted in fear, both too far away to help the boy.

Luckily Sasuke was quick on his feet and swung down on a wire, catching the blonde before he fell to his death. As they hung there, while Sasuke was trying to pull the other boy up, the contents of Naruto's trash basket spilled out over the falls.

Akina turned away in exasperation, continuing her own work.

Team seven's final mission for the day was to walk dogs. Really, super simple, right?

Sakura was walking a little brown and white puppy.

Akina had the mild tempered Shiba.

Sasuke had chosen the little wiener dog.

And Naruto, being Naruto, took on the big brown bulldog.

"Are you sure you can control him, Naruto?" Akina asked, concerned for both the dog and Naruto's wellbeing.

Naruto gave a cheesy grin. "Of course! Piece of cake!"

She sighed. "Okay, whatever you say…" the girl had just begun walking over to see how Sakura was handling her dog when she heard screaming.

"Ahhh! No! Stop! You don't wanna go in there, doggie!"

Akina turned, and Naruto was being dragged by the dog through a hole in the fence to the practice minefield.

"Naruto! What do you think you're doing?!" Sakura shouted at him.

"It's not me!" He yelled back desperately.

"Oh, no..." Akina winced when multiple explosions burst from the ground that Naruto was being dragged across.

"You think he's okay?" The purple haired girl asked no one in particular.

All the while, Kakashi was just sitting around reading his stupid book.

By the time the missions were over Naruto was battered and bruised with Sakura and Akina helping him walk; Sasuke had refused to help the blonde idiot.

"You'd have been fine if you hadn't overdone it." Sakura scolded.

"We don't exactly enjoy having to carry you around, you know." Akina added, still in a bad mood herself. Naruto sighed in defeat.

"You're a real nuisance." Sasuke muttered from behind them.

Hearing that made the blonde snap; he pulled away from the girls and started after Sasuke. "That does it!"

Sakura held him back, while Akina moved away to the sidelines with Kakashi. "If you start anything more I'll bury you!" The pink haired girl shouted.

Sasuke walked away with a huff of laughter.

"Hmm… Lately your teamwork has been almost non-existent." Kakashi mused.

"You tell him! You're always messing up our teamwork, Sasuke!" Naruto shouted at the Uchiha's turned back.

Akina rolled her eyes. "I would hate to argue with you, Naruto, but-"

"He was talking to you, pinhead." Sasuke suddenly interrupted. "If you're so sick of being in my debt..." The raven haired boy turned to glare at Naruto. "Why don't you just get better than me?"

Naruto glared back, and, for the second time that day, they were having a glaring contest. Kakashi merely stood there, reading his book, as usual. Naruto pointed at Sasuke and began to say something, but Sakura quickly bopped him on the head, stopping the fight before it could even begin.

Akina sighed, looking up to the blue sky, and noticed a hawk flying overhead. Kakashi seemed to notice it as well.

"Okay, that's it. We'll call it a day right now." The jonin spoke up. "I've got to hand in my report on today's mission."

"Have fun with that one, sensei." Akina snorted, earning and annoyed glance from their teacher.

Sasuke turned away and began walking off again. "Then I'm going home."

"Oh, hey! Sasuke, wait up!" Sakura quickly ran after him. "I…I was wondering if…" Naruto held a crushed expression on his face and Sakura had a sickeningly sweet, lovey-dovey one on hers. "If we, you know… you and I, just the two of us, could work on our... um…our teamwork?"

Sasuke turned to look at her, an annoyed expression on his face. "You're as bad as Naruto."

Now Sakura was crushed.

"Why waste your time flirting when you should be practicing? Even his skills are better than yours!" the boy clarified.

Scratch that, Sakura looked like she was about to die. And Sasuke just walked away, without a care for how much he'd hurt her.

"What's your problem, you jerk?!" Akina seethed. _Even if it is true…_

The Uchiha boy merely ignored her as he continued to walk around the corner, out of sight.

"Forget Sasuke. You and I can train together!" Naruto cheered and waved happily to Sakura.

Now Sakura just looked mad.

"Even though you mean well, Naruto, that's not helping…" Akina sighed.

Kakashi took this opportunity to disappear, clearly not wanting to stick around for any more teenage drama.

 _That's nice… just leave us all here. No goodbye. No "See you tomorrow." Nothing._

"Whatever! What matters is I'm done losing! There's only one thing ahead of me, and that's…training!" Naruto shouted suddenly.

"Great, Naruto, now how about training your senses to detect an ambush?" The purple haired girl pointed to a box that was quickly moving up behind him.

"Huh?!" Naruto turned around, causing the box to stop moving; he then turned his back and started walking away, the box following slowly.

"Psych! Faked you out, Rock!" Naruto shouted as he quickly spun around and pointed at the box dramatically.

"That doesn't even remotely resemble a rock, Naruto…" Akina mumbled, rubbing her head with her palm.

Naruto stopped for a second as if in thought. "…R-right!" He pointed back at the box. "Little hint, no rock has perfect angles, perfect corners…and eye holes. Kind of a big clue."

Akina sighed. The box lifted up, and three little kids crawled out from underneath. The first was little Konohamaru, the third Hokage's grandson. The second was a little girl with orange, gravity-defying pigtails. And the third was a little boy with glasses and a runny nose. All three of them wore goggles on their foreheads.

"Leave it to the man I have acknowledged as being almost my equal! Your skills rival my own!" little Konohamaru shouted with crossed arms.

"Oh, it's you guys." Naruto put his arms behind his head lazily. "Uhhh…what's up with the goggles?"

Konohamaru laughed. "You're our idol, right? We're copying the style you used to wear."

 _First he says Naruto's his "almost equal" and now he's their idol?_

Naruto gave them an odd look. "Oh-kaaaaay…"

Konohamaru pointed at him. "What do you mean okay? Suddenly too cool for school, big guy?"

"What do you want from me?" The blonde asked a little too bluntly.

"He's looking down on us!" Konohamaru whispered to the other boy, who nodded in response.

The girl stepped up. "We'll show you, boss! Can you come now?"

"Nope! I have to train!" Naruto answered simply.

"But…but you promised to play ninja with us! Right?" Konohamaru shouted with an accusing finger pointed in Naruto's direction.

Naruto laughed nervously, scratching the back of his head. "Oh, yeah…was that today?"

Just then, Sakura walked up to them, with a dark cloud hanging over her.

 _Yikes!_ Akina quickly stepped back out of the way, predicting what was most likely about to happen.

"So…just what is a ninja doing "playing ninja", hmm?" the pink haired kunoichi asked.

Naruto continued to scratch the back of his head. Sakura just stared at him oddly.

Konohamaru suddenly pointed at the two girls and asked "Hey, big guy, who're the babes?"

 _Babes? …Does he mean me, too?_ Akina wondered, blinking in confusion.

Konohamaru seemed to think for a moment before he slapped his fist into his other hand and had a look on his face like he'd just figured something out. "Hey, big guy, seeing as how you're so smart and suave and all…the hotties…I can tell…you and they are…" He smirked and held up his pinkie finger in the sign of "girlfriend" "…You knowwww! Right?"

Sakura glared viciously.

 _Excuse me?_

Naruto grinned like the idiot he was and laughed. "For little guys, you catch on quick."

 _EXCUSE ME?!_

"WRONG!" Sakura punched Naruto square in the face, causing the blonde to tumble back into a wooden fence.

"You deserved that one." Akina huffed, crossing her arms.

"Big guy!" The three kids shouted and ran over to Naruto's aid. "You're our leader! You can't die!"

"Wh-what did you do that for?!" Konohamaru shouted. "You total witch!"

Sakura cracked her knuckles and walked over to beat both Naruto and Konohamaru to a pulp; once she had finished with the two boys she quietly stormed off.

Akina knelt down next to the two boys and whispered. "That was really stupid, you know that, right? She's already in a bad mood because of Sasuke. And by the way, I'm not your girlfriend either, Naruto. I'm a girl and I'm your friend, but I'm not your girlfriend." She bopped the blonde on one of the bumps Sakura's fist had created and moved away.

They both sat up after that, quite obviously in pain. Konohamaru rubbed his banged up head. "…Jeesh! Forget what I said. The purple haired girl is WAY prettier than that broad-browed, firebreathing hag!"

"Me? Really?" Akina blinked thoughtfully from a few feet away.

Naruto was already looking frightened for his life as the words came from the child's mouth. Sakura stopped dead in her tracks at hearing what he'd said and, before they could react, she turned and charged at Naruto and the three kids, causing them to run for their lives.

The purple haired girl sighed. "Better go make sure she doesn't kill anyone…" with that she walked off after them.

Once Akina caught up with the group she saw that Konohamaru had bumped into a big guy who was dressed in a black jumpsuit and had weird face paint on. He also had some weird wrapped-up… thing... strapped to his back. There was a girl standing next to him. She had blonde hair tied up in four pigtails and a giant fan strapped to her back. They were both wearing headbands from Sunagakure.

 _Is there just something with people from the sand village and strapping huge things to their backs?_

"That's gotta smart!" The guy in black spoke before he picked Konohamaru up by his shirt collar.

"Konohamaru!" Naruto and the other two children all shouted with worry.

"That hurt, snotface!" The guy in black smirked.

"Knock it off, Kankuro. You're gonna get it as it is." The blonde girl warned him.

"It was my fault. I was fooling around…" Sakura spoke up nervously, trying to take the blame off little Konohamaru.

"Put him down, you big ape!" Naruto shouted again.

"That's not helping, Naruto…" Akina quietly growled at him.

The guy in black, Kankuro, glanced at the three genin. "I just want to play with him a little…while we're waiting for the nuisance to get here!" He tightened his hold on Konohamaru.

Just then Naruto charged at him. "You sonofa-" But, for some reason, Naruto tripped and fell backwards before he could even get close to the guy.

Akina blinked, not sure if she had seen what happened correctly. _What?! All he did was flip his hand. What happened?_

Kankuro laughed. "What a wimp! Is that the best Konoha's Genin can do?!"

The purple haired girl growled. _Oh, if only I had my Nodachi with me right now I'd show you just what a ninja of Konoha can do, you jerk!_

Naruto stood back up. "Hey! You in the black pig suit! Release him now and I'll go easy on you, bonehead!"

Sakura quickly put him in a chokehold. "You're the bonehead! Do you want that guy to kick Uranus?!"

"You're starting to annoy me!" Kankuro stated, his voice no longer playful. Sakura and Naruto froze. "First off, I'm allergic to 'shrimp'!" He shook Konohamaru a bit. "Bad enough that you're a short little kid, you're disrespecting your elders! You make me want to kill him!"

"What?!" Naruto and Sakura both shouted. Konohamaru's friends were crying now.

The blonde girl sighed. "I will not be held responsible for this…"

 _Gotta do something…_ Akina stepped up in front of the other two genin and the kids, glaring poison at the older sand ninja. "I've had enough of this! Put him down, now!"

He just smirked at the small girl. "And what're you gonna do about it, ya little brat?"

The girl's glare hardened as she took a step forward; she couldn't use weapons or anything in case Konohamaru got hurt, so she'd have to stick with basic Taijutsu. "I'll fight you if you give me no other choice." Another step, and then another. _I have to be careful not to hit whatever Naruto tripped over; this guy probably has some sort of trap hidden nearby._

"What're doing? I thought you were going to fight me?" the sand ninja sneered.

"I will." She then took a chance and jumped, figuring it'd be better if she didn't touch the ground around him, and aimed to punch his jaw. But suddenly it felt like she was being wrapped up by some sort of invisible rope, causing her to be pulled toward the ground in a heap, only a foot from her target. _Chakra strings?!_

"I'm getting bored." Kankuro raised his fist, prepared to hit Konohamaru. "So I'll finish with this tiny shrimp and move on to the jumbo shrimp over there, then the annoying little brat!" he sneered down at the girl laying immobile at his feet.

As he swung his fist to strike the child Naruto ran to stop him, but suddenly a small rock flew at the sand ninja, hitting his hand and making him drop little Konohamaru in the process.

"Tell me…what are you guys doing in our village?"

They all looked up to see Sasuke sitting on a branch in the nearby tree, tossing a rock in his hand.

"It's Sasuke!" Sakura cheered.

"Woopie..." Akina grumbled, lifting herself from the ground. She stood, dusting herself off. _I guess sneak attacks are the only things that work on this guy._ She then took Konohamaru's hand and led him back over near the others.

Kankuro held his injured hand as he glared viciously at Sasuke. "Oh, look. Another little brat."

Sasuke glared back. "Get lost."

Sakura cheered. The little kids were also impressed. Akina and Naruto were not.

Konohamaru pointed accusingly at Naruto. "Naruto, you suck! I can't believe we looked up to you!"

Naruto knelt down and patted Konohamaru on the back. "Don't be stupid. I could have handled that loser if Sasuke hadn't butted in!" The little boy merely crossed his arms and turned away. Naruto glared and held up a fist, angry that Sasuke had once again showed him up.

"Come down, little squirrel!" Kankuro called up to Sasuke, ignoring the others for the time being. "Think you're pretty smart, don't you?" He pulled the wrapped-up thing off his back.

The blonde girl stepped forward, moving for the first time since they'd met. "Tell me you're not planning to use the crow!" She shouted with what sounded to be both anger and fear.

"Kankuro... Don't..." A dark, drawling voice came from behind Sasuke in the tree.

Akina froze at the sound, she didn't have to turn or look up to know who it was.

Sasuke also looked shocked, but not for the same reasons as his teammate. He couldn't believe that someone could sneak up on him like that.

Those pale green eyes glared down at the other sand ninja. "You're a disgrace to our entire village."

"G-Gaara…" Kankuro greeted nervously.

Akina chanced a glance at the boy, only to find that he was staring at her intensely, and quickly looked away from those piercing eyes. Sasuke was the only one to notice this exchange.

"It annoys me that you'd lose control in a quarrel with children. Have you forgotten why we came here?" Gaara continued to scold his teammate as if no time had passed in between.

"But Gaara…they started it. The little one slammed into me!" The older sand ninja defended as if talking to a parent, all the while pointing toward Konohamaru.

Gaara's glare doubled in intensity. "Shut up…or I'll kill you."

Kankuro shivered visibly. "You're right. I was out of line."

"We're sorry…okay, Gaara? Really, really sorry!" The blonde girl spoke just as nervously.

 _They're frightened of him?_ Akina thought as she watched the scene unfold before them.

Gaara turned to Sasuke. "Sorry about my friends." He then disappeared in a swirl of sand and landed in between Kankuro and the blonde girl. "I know we're a little early…but we didn't come here to play around."

"I swear it won't happen again." Kankuro assured.

Gaara turned to leave. "Let's go."

"Wait!"

He turned back. "Yes?"

Sakura stepped forward. "According to your headbands, you three come from the village hidden in the sand. Your country is one of Konoha's allies…but according to our treaty, your ninja are not permitted to cross the border without authorization. State your business! We can't just let you go your merry way."

"…Ever heard the old saying about it being darkest at the base of the brightest lighthouse?" The blonde girl stepped forward and held out a passport. "Ta-da! My travel papers! Weren't you informed?"

"Informed of what exactly?" Akina asked curiously.

The blonde put her passport away. "As you guessed, we're junior level ninja from hiding-in-sand. We're here to take the Chunin selection exam."

 _The Chunin exams? Is it really that time already?_

Naruto leaned forward and had a confused expression on his face. "What's the Chunin selection exam?"

The blonde girl crossed her arms. "You really don't know? Junior ninja are sent from hiding-in-sand and the minor lands between our home and yours to compete against Konoha's own candidates."

"Why test us all together?" Naruto asked excitedly.

"Mainly to maintain the skill of all shinobi at the same high level of excellence. Also to foster friendship and understanding between ninja. And, of course, to maintain the balance of power between the lands themselves."

"Hey, Konohamaru! Maybe I should enter this Chunin selection exam thing too, huh?" Naruto and the smaller boy started jumping around happily.

"Listen, you! When you ask someone a question, it's considered good manners to listen to their entire answer." The blonde girl shouted.

Sakura glared at the two boys, understanding perfectly well how it feels to be interrupted during an explanation.

All the while Gaara had been staring fixatedly at a certain purple haired girl, who could do nothing else but stare back curiously. It startled the girl when Sasuke suddenly appeared only a few inches in front of her, blocking her from the sand ninja's view. "Hey! You there! What's your name?"

"Huh? W-who, me?" The blonde girl asked, pointing to herself hopefully.

"No! I was talking to the spook beside you." The raven haired boy answered, dismissing the girl.

Gaara glared at the Uchiha for blocking his target of interest, but answered anyway "Gaara of the desert, at your service. And you are…?"

"Uchiha Sasuke." He answered back with a cocky smirk.

They glared at each other a moment; Gaara trying to stare past Sasuke, with Sasuke purposefully becoming a shield.

"Hey! Hey! Don't you want to know my name?" Naruto interrupted loudly as he pointed to himself expectantly.

Gaara turned away then, giving up on their little staring contest. "No. Let's go."

Naruto just stood there, defeated as the three sand ninja disappeared.

Akina peeked around Sasuke's back, which was only a few inches from her nose, to stare at the place the sand ninja had once stood. She sighed. _I hope it won't be like this every time we encounter them; I don't think I'll be able to take it._

It was then that the raven haired Uchiha turned to look at the girl behind him, a sly, victorious smirk plastered on his face; he chuckled at seeing her annoyed expression. "I'll walk you home."

The girl grumbled, but allowed it anyway. She was far too tired to argue.


	15. The chunin exams Begin!

Chapter Fifteen: The Chunin exams begin!

Reviews help me know how the story is doing guys! Also I enjoy reading them!

Enjoy?

Disclaimer: If I owned it, then I wouldn't need to write fanfiction.

...

[six days later]

Once again the four genin were all waiting for Kakashi to show up, as usual.

Sakura looked like a wreck, like she hadn't slept all night. "Sheesh!" She sighed. "Okay, look! Are we going to just stand around and let them get away with this? Why is it, whenever we get called out, we end up waiting like dopes for the challenger to show?"

"Challenger? What 'challenger'?" Akina wondered.

"She's right! Say it, Sakura!" Naruto cheered.

"I mean, think how I feel. I overslept, and I didn't even get to blow-dry my hair!" She shouted in rage.

"We can tell." The purple haired girl mumbled.

"Yeah. It's not right. I overslept, too…and I didn't even pause to wash my face or brush my teeth!" Naruto just had to put in his two cents.

Sakura stared at him. "Ewww! Gross!"

"We didn't need to know that, Naruto." Akina said with a look of horror. _But at least they've been able to sleep lately…I can't get those eyes out of my head, like they're constantly looking at me from the shadows…_ She sighed.

"Akina…"

This made her jump. Slowly she turned to see Sasuke standing behind her, once again disregarding the personal space bubble. "Ah… Y-yes? Did you want something?"

He gave her an odd look, something that could've matched concern on anyone else. "You've been looking a little tired lately; I think maybe you should go home and rest."

She looked down. "…Do I…really?"

He nodded.

The girl then glared up at him as her arm suddenly swung out. He caught it, inches from his face, just barely noticing the kunai she held.

Sakura gasped when she saw. "Akina! What do you think you're doing?!"

"Whoa! Hey, now! I hate Sasuke too, but don't you think that's a little much?" Naruto asked frantically.

"Just mind your own business, Uchiha!" Akina growled at Sasuke, ignoring the other two. "If there's something wrong with me I'll make sure not to let it affect my performance on our missions. So you don't need to worry yourself."

Sasuke stared at the girl in shock; he'd honestly never heard such venom in her voice before, not directed at him anyway, nor had she ever attacked him like that. Akina pulled her hand free and walked to the other side of the bridge, crossing her arms. A small amount of mist started to rise up behind her above the water. Only her teammates seemed to notice this; they glanced at each other questioningly.

"Oh! Sasuke, you're bleeding!" Sakura suddenly squealed as she rushed over to him.

Akina looked up and saw that the boy indeed had a small slash on his cheek which was bleeding down his neck and under the blue shirt he always wore, she then looked down at her hands; there was a bit of blood on the kunai as well. _I wasn't actually trying to hurt him… I just…_

Sakura cleaned Sasuke up and it was then that Kakashi appeared on a pole overhead, waving at his students. "Morning, guys! Today, I wandered a bit from the path of life…"

"You are such a liar!" Naruto shouted while pointing accusingly at his sensei.

"Would it kill you to at least pretend to be sorry?" Sakura added, mimicking the blonde's actions.

Akina turned away irritably. _So noisy…_

Kakashi jumped down from where he was standing and leaned against the rail of the bridge. "In any case… This may surprise you…but I've recommended all four of you for the Chunin exam."

Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto just stood there, dumbstruck.

"Say what?!" Sakura suddenly shouted, looking angry.

"Good one, sensei. You almost had us." Naruto said, an unimpressed expression on his face.

Sasuke just stood there quietly, his eyes closed.

"He's not joking." Akina spoke as she walked over to where they were standing.

Kakashi smiled. "Right…" He held out four pieces of paper. "You have to fill out applications."

Naruto suddenly jumped on Kakashi, hugging him tightly. "Kakashi sensei, I love you!"

"Get off…you're embarrassing me!" Kakashi shouted as he tried to remove the blond boy.

Akina sighed. "Big dummy…"

After they'd all received an application Naruto sat down and stared at his paper like it was sacred treasure while the other's stood and actually read what it said.

"If any of you don't wish to compete, the exam is entirely voluntary. The choice is yours." Kakashi explained. "You needn't turn in those application forms unless you want to. If you do, report to room 301 at the school by 4:00 tomorrow afternoon. That's all." And with that said Kakashi disappeared.

All four of the genin walked down the road together.

Naruto was singing. "Dum-di-di-duh…the Chunin selection exam!" He even marched to the tune. "I'll bet there'll be a lot of tough competition." He seemed to think for a moment. "Like him!" he pointed in the air as if anyone was supposed to see a thought bubble above his head. A moment later he glared at Sasuke, who promptly glared back.

"Like who?" Akina asked, actually wondering who he meant.

But Naruto was already off in his own little world, chuckling like a fool. Even Sasuke seemed excited. …But Sakura didn't. In fact, she seemed downright depressed. Akina noticed when the pink haired Kunoichi stopped walking and stared down at her paper. Naruto and Sasuke kept walking, completely oblivious.

The purple haired girl stopped and turned to look at her teammate. "Sakura…are you okay?"

She looked up and gave the other girl a fake smile. "Oh…yeah. I'm just fine! Heh-heh…"

"Liar." Akina mumbled as she walked over to her. "If you're still worried about what Sasuke said, he was just trying to make you feel bad for flirting with him."

Sakura looked back down at her paper. "But he's right, I can't even keep up with Naruto, this exam will be too much for me."

Akina tapped her on the head lightly, bringing the girl's attention back to her. "Naruto and Sasuke are fighters, Sakura. But you? You're our brains." She smiled encouragingly. "And we could really use some brains around here with two big dumb boys messing things up all the time!"

Sakura smiled slightly.

The Mizuto girl turned away and waved over her shoulder. "Just think about it, okay? Do what you feel is right for you."

Sakura waved back. "I will. Thank you, Akina!"

The smile faded as Akina walked away and looked down at her own application worriedly. _Now I just have to convince myself of that…_ "…What should I do?"

On her way to Shikamaru's house Akina noticed that a rain Ninja was fallowing her.

She stopped. He stopped.

"Heh… A disguise like that won't fool me." The girl turned to smirk at him. "I thought you knew better than that…Iruka sensei."

The rain ninja poofed and Iruka walked out of the cloud of smoke, scratching his head nervously. "It's really not fair when you use that, Akina."

"So, are you testing all of us?"

Iruka nodded.

"Then, can I ask you a favor?"

"What is it?"

"It's Sakura; she thinks she's not good enough to enter. But honestly, I don't think we'll be able to make it without her." Akina smiled. "She could really use a good confidence boost!"

Iruka smiled and nodded. "I'll see what I can do."

Akina finally managed to arrive at Shikamaru's house for dinner, albeit a little later than she'd wanted.

"Ah… So, Azuma sensei applied you guys for the Chunin exams, too?" She asked her friend as they were once again on the roof outside his window like they usually were after dinner.

Shikamaru sighed and laid back. "Yeah…it's a real drag, but it's not like I have anything better to do."

The girl laughed. "That's for sure!"

He just turned away. "And…what about you?"

Akina looked down at him innocently. "What about me?"

He glared at her lazily. "Are you entering?"

She sighed. "I don't know…it's…complicated…"

Shikamaru sat up, looking into her eyes, she seemed troubled. "How complicated?"

This made her turn away. "…Um…well…there are certain people attending that, for reasons I'm not going to tell you, I'd rather not meet."

He touched her arm gently. "Akina…"

She turned and smiled up at him "No. Don't worry." then looked out at the darkening village. "I think they're going to need me for this one anyway. I can't abandon my team just because I'm scared."

[At home]

"What?! Really?!" Mai jumped up and down like a child. "Little Aki is going to be a Chunin!"

"No, Aunt Mai, I'm just taking the test." The girl sighed. "There are going to be ninja attending that are far stronger than I am, so there's no guarantee of anything."

The dark haired woman waved off the comment. "Oh, whatever, you need to have more confidence in yourself." She grinned. "Ayame made Chunin right after she graduated from the academy and Akito, as I was told, had already been in a special forces squad by the time he was your age."

Akina turned away, not liking to be reminded of what she had to live up to. "Yeah? Well, I'm not like them."

Mai huffed. "Oh, you know I didn't mean it like that. With both the Sharingan and you father's sword, you're sure to win!"

The girl didn't bother looking at her "What Sharingan?"

"Now don't be like that. We both know it's-"

"I don't have it." The girl interrupted. "And until Sasuke receives his, I never will." She then walked up to her room and slammed the door shut.

Mai sighed. "Oh, Akina..."

The day of the exam

Sakura and Sasuke were standing outside the ninja academy, waiting for Naruto and Akina to show up. The two of them didn't speak to each other with Sakura not sure what to say, and Sasuke just being Sasuke.

"Hey, Sakura!" Naruto shouted as he came up to them, hand flailing in the air as he tried to wave while running.

"Uh…hi." Sakura replied with a nervous smile.

Sasuke glanced at her, noticing the odd behavior.

"Hey…uh… Is this where I sign my name?" Naruto asked as he held his paper up toward Sakura.

"Can't you read?" Sasuke asked in exasperation.

The blond boy looked around, finally realizing that something was missing. "Hey! Where's Akina?"

Sakura seemed worried at this. "I don't know…" She then put on a fake smile. "You know how Akina is, always late for something! Heh-heh…"

Sasuke turned away, slightly disappointed. "She's not coming, is she?"

Sakura looked down. "I don't know…she seemed fine yesterday…but…"

Even Naruto looked depressed.

"Heya! What's everyone just standing around for, huh?" Asked a chirpy girl's voice.

"Akina!" Sakura cheered and ran over to the purple haired girl.

"Hey! Sasuke said you weren't coming!" Naruto burst as he joined his pink haired companion.

"I did not!" the raven haired Uchiha defended.

Akina merely put her hands on her hips and gave them a cheeky grin. "Of course I'm coming! I'm not gonna stand back and let you guys have all the fun!" She smirked. "Besides, I can't skip out on things like this! What fun would that be?"

Naruto smiled and punched his hand in the air "Yeah! That's right!" this caused the Mizuto girl to laugh.

Sakura stared at her friend. "Akina, you're wearing different style clothes than normal."

Akina stopped laughing and looked down at herself, instead of the usual blue shirt and white capri pants, the girl was wearing a sleeveless blue zip up shirt with fishnet underneath, a short white skirt over black skin-tight shorts, and a pair of black fingerless gloves.

There was a slight bit of sadness in her eyes when she answered "These…were some of my mother's old clothes." She brightened then "You know, she became a Chunin when she was my age."

"Wow! That's so cool!" Naruto beamed.

Sakura smiled. "You're mom must have been an amazing Kunoichi."

Sasuke just stared.

"Well... Let's go!" Akina cheered, joined by Naruto.

The four Genin pushed past the crowds that had gathered inside the ninja academy, trying to make their way to the third floor.

"Jeez…there sure are a lot of them." Akina mumbled.

As they reached a slight clearing in the halls the group noticed bunch of Genin were gathered near a door of which the sign above read 301

… _Hmm…that's odd, now isn't it?_

There was a bunch of noise coming from that side of the room.

"What's going on?" Sakura asked.

"Looks like a fight." Her purple haired friend answered.

Two older boys were standing in front of the door. One with spikey hair and two giant kunai on his back, the other had flattened down hair and didn't really have anything distinguishing about him.

The one with spikey hair had knocked down a Genin who was wearing a green jumpsuit and had a black, bowl-cut hairdo. The bowl cut guy rubbed his cheek, which was littered with bruises, while he sat up.

"Is someone as talentless as you really planning to take the Chunin selection exam? Why bother?" The older, spikey haired boy spoke. "Bunch of wet-behind-the-ears snotnoses!"

"You said it!" The other boy smirked.

A girl in a pink shirt walked up to them. "Please…we're begging you…let us in."

The spikey haired guy knocked the girl away with a single swing of his arm.

"…That's just cruel…!" A Genin said from the crowd.

"How can he just abuse people he knows are weaker than him?" Akina growled.

"What did you say?" Spikey haired guy glared at the crowd. "You misunderstand! We're just trying to spare you… The Chunin exam is incredibly difficult…and we should know. We've failed three times so far."

He explained that there have been people who made it through and gave up being shinobi, people who ended up being crippled or reduced to vegetables. Akina shuddered at the thought, knowing first-hand what it's like to not be able to use a part of your body.

The spikey haired guy smirked then. "Besides that. Chunin are cell commanders. They lead their units. The responsibilities for failed missions and dead shinobi rest firmly on their shoulders. And you little punks have the nerve to apply?" He snorted. "We're saving a step by weeding out the obvious losers beforehand."

"That sounds good in theory…but you'd better let me through." Sasuke said with a smirk. "And drop the force-field illusion you've created, while you're at it. I have business on the third floor."

"What's he talking about?" One Genin asked.

"Who knows?" Another said.

The two older guys smirked.

"So you figured it out, eh?" Asked the flat haired one.

Sasuke smirked back. "It was easy. Right, Sakura? You were probably the first to notice it."

"Huh…?" She looked at him with bemusement.

Akina smiled at her encouragingly. "Yeah, Sakura! You're the most observant one on our team."

Sakura blushed and smiled. "Heh. Of course I noticed it. Obviously, we're still on the second floor."

Sasuke smirked, pleased with himself.

Naruto had a confused smiled on his face, clearly he'd been fooled. "Of course!"

"You had no idea, did you, Naruto?" Akina whispered to him amusedly.

"Ah…well…" he scratched the back of his head nervously.

The illusion faded, and the sign above the door now said 201

The spikey haired guy smirked. "Hey…not bad. But just seeing through it isn't…" He snorted and quickly shot a foot out in Sasuke's direction. "…Enough!"

Sasuke put his hand up to block, and kicked out with his own foot. But just then the boy in the green jumpsuit stepped in between, stopping both attacks instantly by grabbing the boys' legs mid-kick.

 _Whoa! He just intercepted and blocked both attacks!_ Akina thought in amazement. _I know that Sasuke is pretty strong and by the level of his Chakra, that spikey haired guy is no pushover, so, to stop both attacks at once, this guy is something else; definitely stronger than he was letting on before._ She then looked at him more closely. _But…there's something strange about his chakra…_

The guy in the green jumpsuit let go of Sasuke and the other guy, causing the spikey haired jerk to fall to the ground, then walked back over to his team and sighed.

It was then that the purple haired girl noticed Neji standing there. _Oh…so this is Neji's team, huh? I guess it makes sense, then._

"Hey…" Neji whispered to his teammate. "That's not what we agreed! You're the one who insisted we should avoid drawing attention to ourselves."

"…B…but…" The guy in the green jumpsuit glanced toward Team Seven and blushed.

The girl in pink shook her head. "Here we go again…"

Neji also looked in that direction seemingly shocked to see his least favorite violet haired girl standing there.

The boy in green walked straight up to Sakura, his face as red as a tomato. "Hi. My name is Rock Lee. You must be Sakura. Will you…be my girlfriend? I promise to protect you with my life!" He then gave her a thumbs up while flashing his very shiny teeth.

 _Dude…that is so dorky…_ Akina couldn't help but laugh a little.

Sakura had an odd look on her face. "Definitely…not!"

Rock Lee looked disappointed. "Why?"

"Because you're a weirdo!" She blurted.

Naruto laughed.

 _Wow, Sakura…that was pretty harsh…_

Lee then turned to the purple haired girl with hope in his bush toped eyes. "What about you then?! You are Mizuto Akina, yes?"

Akina smiled sweetly, hardly even fazed by the sudden question. "Sorry, I'm already taken."

Lee sighed in defeat. Sasuke rolled his eyes. Neji gave the girl a curious look. Naruto also seemed curious.

Sakura had a look of amazement. "Really? Who?!"

This caused the girl to sigh. "Honestly? If you haven't already figured it out I'm not telling you..." The stares she was receiving from the boys didn't go unnoticed by her.

Sakura didn't have a clue as to what was going on, but she let the subject go anyway.

Lee was now slumped over and facing the wall, a dark cloud of depression hovering over him.

Neji walked up toward the group and gave Akina a glance before staring at Sasuke. "Hey, you!"

Sasuke turned around, not having paid any attention to the Hyuga's presence until that point.

"What's your name?"

Naruto seemed upset by this, Akina figured it was because so many people asked for Sasuke's name and completely ignored the blonde boy.

 _Well, Naruto, everyone in Konoha basically already knows who you are._ Though she didn't relay these thoughts, figuring it would only serve to further the boy's already failing mood.

"It's common courtesy to give your own name first." Sasuke smirked as his reply to Neji's question.

"You're a rookie, aren't you? How old?" Neji questioned again.

"I don't have to tell you a thing." Sasuke sneered before turning away.

Neji also turned away, clearly not getting the answers he wanted, but not before glancing at Akina once again.

The girl shivered under that cold stare. _Why must he always do that?_

All the while Naruto and Lee were both standing at the wall, deep in depression.

Sakura smiled, trying to break the tension in the air "Now! Sasuke, Akina, Naruto, let's go!" She grabbed Sasuke and Naruto's hands and started pulling them along down the corridor.

Akina merely shrugged and followed at a close pace. _Whatever…_


	16. Meeting the Competition

Chapter sixteen: Meeting the Competition 

This chapter got entirely deleted by accident, so I had to entirely rewrite it. Hopefully it isn't too horrible.

Enjoy?

Disclaimer: If I owned it then I wouldn't need to write fanfiction.

The four genin entered the next room and suddenly heard someone call out. "Hey! You, with the scowl... wait up!" They turned around only to see the bowl cut boy from earlier looking down at them from the balcony above.

Sakura nearly screamed.

Akina tilted her head. "How did he get up there?"

"What is it?" Sasuke asked, sounding bored.

Lee stared down intensely. "You and me, here and now. Want to fight?"

Sasuke glared. "You want to fight me... here and now?"

Akina rolled her eyes. "That's what he just said."

"But that's..." Sakura began to protest, but the bowl cut guy suddenly shouted "Yes!" and jumped down from the balcony.

"My name is Rock Lee." He pointed a thumb to himself. "Proper etiquette requires one to introduce themselves before asking for the name of another... Uchiha Sasuke." Lee pointed to Sasuke.

"Huh... So you knew who I was all along." Sasuke chuckled.

Lee got into a fighting stance. "I'm calling you out!"

Akina snickered and turned away. "Boys... If you are going to fight I won't be responsible."

They ignored her.

"I want to test the effectiveness of my techniques against the last surviving member of your legendary clan." Lee announced. "Besides..." He glanced to Sakura and winked.

"No way! Those eyebrows creep me out! Not to mention the geeky 'do..." Sakura shuttered at every thought.

"That's a little harsh. Sure, he is super dorky looking, but he seems like a nice guy." Akina nudged Sakura with her elbow.

"No way!" The pinkette shouted again.

"You're an angel!" Lee sudden blew a kiss at the girl, who swiftly dodged the imaginary heart that floated towards her. Suddenly he began to wink more hearts at her and she skillfully dodged every single one until the last, which Sakura had to bend back so far that she smacked her head on the floor.

"Um... what just happened?" Akina blinked down at the girl.

Sakura stood and raised a fist towards Lee. "Keep your weird kisses to yourself, creep! I could have died dodging those!"

"You didn't have to dodge them..." Lee pouted.

"So you're challenging me, even knowing my lineage?" Sasuke interrupted. "In other words, you're a fool."

"Oh, yeah!" Sakura cheered.

Akina sighed and walked away. "Again, I'm not taking any responsibility for this."

"So, bushy-brow, do you really want to learn what it means to be an Uchiha?" Sasuke glared, completely ignoring his cousin.

"Absolutely!" Lee replied in excitement, raising his hand and motioning for Sasuke to come at him.

"Hold it!"

Everyone turned to see Naruto glaring daggers at the other two. "Let me handle bushy-brow. He'll be toast. Just give me five minutes."

Akina touched the boy's shoulder. "Naruto... I really don't think..."

"I have no interest in fighting you. Only Uchiha." Lee clarified.

"Oh, boy." The purple haired girl sighed as Naruto bolted forward.

"Story of my freakin' life! It's 'Sasuke this!' and 'Sasuke that!' till I could just puke!" He went for a punch, but Lee easily deflected it with one hand, Naruto then used his momentum to try to kick upward and Lee dodged, spinning around and sweeping his leg under Naruto, causing the blonde to tumble forward into the wall.

Lee stood back up straight, one hand behind his back, and the other beckoning his next challenger. "Mark my words. None of you will beat me. I am the greatest fighter among all the junior ninja in Konoha village."

 _I thought Neji was the number one junior ninja?_

"This could be fun. I accept your challenge." Sasuke smirked.

Sakura glanced at a clock inside the room. "Oh! Don't do it, Sasuke! We have less than half an hour to submit our applications!"

"This will only take five minutes." Sasuke rushed towards Lee.

"That's what Naruto said and he got his ass handed to him!" Akina called from the sidelines.

Sasuke threw a punch and Lee deflected it, instantly spinning around to send a kick at Sasuke's head. Sasuke ducked, but then another kick was suddenly sent his way and he had to block with his crossed arms. But somehow Lee's foot made its way past Sasuke's guard and collided with his face, sending him sprawling across the floor. Sakura screamed out for him.

"Sasuke blocked, but what happened?" Akina mused, having watched closely, but not noticing anything out of the ordinary. In fact it seemed that Lee was only using Taijutsu.

Sasuke stood and both girls gasped; his eyes were red, Sharingan eyes.

"What the?" Akina stared in shock. _When did he? He never said anything about it._

Lee appeared unsurprised, Sakura was ecstatic. Sasuke ran in for round two.

And was promptly kicked in the chin by Lee, sending him flying into the air.

Akina sighed, slapping a hand over her face. "Idiot doesn't even know how to use it..."

"Huh?" Sakura turned to Akina, her expression one of confusion.

"The Sharingan is all well and good against Ninjutsu and Genjutsu, but it's horrible when used against Taijutsu." Akina elaborated.

"Exactly." Lee spoke. "They're neither Ninjutsu nor Genjutsu." He suddenly appeared behind Sasuke.

"But shouldn't Sasuke be able to follow his moves like Kakashi did with Zabuza?" Sakura protested.

"Even if you can follow your opponents movements, you would require extensive physical training to compete against someone who is trained well in Taijutsu." Akina explained further. "I believe Lee here must be a Taijutsu expert. I haven't sensed him use any chakra throughout the entire exchange."

Suddenly Akina noticed that the bandages on Lee's arms were coming undone, but soon after a toy windmill struck it to the wall.

"HALT!"

All the genin turned to see a giant turtle in the middle of the room with a Konoha headband around its neck. "That's enough, Lee!" It shouted.

Lee's bandages tightened and pulled him back, causing the boy to twirl to the floor.

Sakura quickly ran to catch Sasuke from falling to the ground. "Sasuke, are you alright?" He shoved himself away from the girl despite his trembling.

Lee bowed before the turtle. "You... you saw?"

"You know the rules, Lee. That move is strictly forbidden!" The turtle shouted back.

"P-please forgive me... I was only... I wouldn't have used the reversal move... I never meant." Lee stuttered and stumbled over his words.

Sakura and Sasuke looked on in wonder. Meanwhile Naruto suddenly walked over. "Hey! Hey!"

"Oh, look! Naruto is conscious again." Akina announced, though it was clear to everyone.

He sent her a sour glare. "Anyway, that thing over there... that's a turtle, right?"

"Obviously!" Sakura shouted.

"So what's the deal here? Can turtle's become ninja?" Naruto asked.

"Don't ask stupid questions!"

"You fool!" The turtle suddenly shouted.

"Whatever the case here Lee is getting an ear full. Also I believe it is a tortoise, Naruto." Akina added while they watched the tortoise yell at Lee.

Suddenly a puff of smoke appeared on top of the tortoise's back; when it cleared it revealed a Jonin man who looked similar to Lee. Same clothes, hair, and eyebrows. "Ah, the exuberance of youth. All of you are full of it." He spoke, making a strange pose.

The genin of team seven were all in various stages of shock.

"He's got the biggest eyebrows yet! They're almost... alive..." Sakura spoke without thinking. "They're... uber-brows! And that same dorky 'do..."

"I've never seen anything like 'em!" Naruto agreed.

"Guys..." Akina sighed.

"H-hey! Don't try to make fun of Guy-sensei!" Lee shouted.

"Oh, shut up!" Naruto shouted back. "I don't even know what to make of all the freaks who keep popping in here!"

"Naruto... that's not nice..."

Lee looked like he wanted to smack the blonde back into the wall, meanwhile his sensei was beckoning him to come over.

"Oh! Yes, sir!" Lee walked over and was promptly punched in the face.

The other four genin were in various states of shock.

Guy knelt down in front of Lee, who was sprawled out on the floor with a bloody lip. both of them were crying.

"...Sensei... I... I..."

"That's enough, Lee! Not one more word." Guy pulled Lee into a tight embrace. Again the other four genin were in various states of shock.

"Sensei!"

"I understand, it's because you're young."

"Sensei!"

"Doesn't it give you a warm fuzzy feeling?" Naruto asked.

"More like a gross, pukey feeling, Naruto..." Akina replied for everyone.

They watched as guy gave Lee a teary-eyed pep talk about mistakes and being young, but then told him that he wasn't going without punishment.

"I understand!" Lee stood proud in front of his teacher.

"Five hundred laps around the practice arena!" Guy punched a fist into the air excitedly.

"Yes, sir!" Lee instantly saluted.

"What a dip..." Sakura muttered.

"What's the deal with that turtle thing anyway?" Naruto asked.

"It's a tortoise, Naruto! Be respectful." Akina bopped the boy on the head.

Suddenly Guy glanced in their direction. "By the way, how is Kakashi? I'm asking you!"

"You know Kakashi-sensei?" Sasuke asked.

"Do I know him?" Guy placed a hand on his chin and chuckled. Then suddenly he was gone.

"I should say so! We are arch-rivals!" Suddenly Guy was behind team seven. They all turned around in shock.

 _Damn! I didn't even see him move._

"The score stands at fifty to forty nine." Guy jabbed a thumb at himself and smiled. "I'm stronger than he is."

"As you can see, Guy-sensei is totally amazing!" Lee cheered.

Guy stood before Sasuke, giving the boy a thumbs up. "I know Lee started this fight, but take pity on his old teacher and forgive him." He tossed a kunai at the toy pinwheel that was holding Lee's bandages, releasing the boy.

It was then that Akina noticed Lee's hands where the bandages had come loose. They were scarred and bruised. _That must have been some intense training..._

"Best of luck, Lee! Later!" Guy spoke again before poofing away in a cloud of smoke.

"Yes, sir!" Lee replied, happily saluting his teacher. "By the way, Sasuke. I was blowing smoke before. I'm really here to prove my own strength in combat." Lee smiled while he finished wrapping up his hand. "Also the strongest junior ninja is a member of my own team... and I intend to take him down. That's why I'm entering. And by the way, you're on my list, too." Lee then jumped back up onto the balcony. "Off to apply for the exam. Be ready for it, okay?" And he was gone.

"What was that crap?" Naruto asked, arms behind his head. "Maybe your hot-snot, famous Uchiha clan isn't all that great after all, huh?"

"Naruto!" Sakura was about to hit the boy.

"He's got a point." Akina spoke up. "Like I said, the Sharingan alone is no match for someone who is well versed in Taijutsu."

"...Shut up..." Sasuke growled. "Next time he's dead meat."

"Despite the total butt-kicking you got this time, right?" Naruto taunted.

"Shut up, Naruto!" Sakura shouted.

"You saw it, too... Didn't you, Naruto?" Akina asked.

"His hands, right?" Naruto nodded. "Old bushy-brows probably gets some kind of super-duper extra-special training day after day." He turned to Sasuke. "Even more than you got. You're toast, pal!"

Sasuke clenched his fist, looking worried for a moment, then he smirked. "Things are starting to get interesting. This Chunin selection exam is bringing things to a boil!"

Sakura and Naruto nodded. "Yep!" "Well, yeah!"

Akina sighed. "Honestly."

"Alright, let's go!" Sasuke announced.

"Hey, guys. I need to talk to Sasuke for a moment, okay. We'll be right there." Akina waved them off, pulling Sasuke away.

Naruto and Sakura seemed worried for a moment, but both nodded and headed down the hall, leaving the cousins alone.

"What is it? We need to hurry-" Suddenly Akina pushed Sasuke back against the wall. "Ow! Hey!"

"How long?" She demanded, fist clenching the front of his shirt.

"What?" Sasuke blinked down at her, clearly confused.

Akina glared. "How long have you had the Sharingan?"

His eyes widened in realization. "Oh..."

"How long, Sasuke?!"

"Since... since the Land of Waves mission. It just... happened... when I was fighting Haku." Sasuke turned away, unable to face the girl in front of him.

"And when exactly were you planning to tell me?" She was having a hard time controlling her temper, she was so frustrated with him.

"I was going to, I just..." He stopped, sighing.

Akina sighed as well, letting go of his shirt. "I can't believe you." She then walked away down the hall to join the others.

"Akina!" Sasuke followed, but he couldn't manage to come up with an explanation.

"Everything okay?" Sakura asked when they spotted the two coming down the hall.

"It's fine, Sakura." Akina replied before Sasuke could say anything. "Let's go. We're wasting time."

Sakura watched the girl with worry when she passed, then looked to Sasuke for answers she would never receive. Naruto merely stood there in confusion a moment before following Akina.

"You heard her, let's go!"

When the team seven genin finally made it to room 301 Kakashi was there waiting for them. "Glad you could make it, ladies."

Naruto and Sasuke glanced to Sakura and Akina.

"This way you all qualify to apply for the Chunin selection exam." Kakashi continued.

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked.

"The way the test is set up, it can only be taken by full cells." He explained.

Sakura looked confused. "But, Kakashi-sensei, you said it was up to each of us whether or not to apply. Were you lying?"

"I said what I had to in order to keep the others from pressuring you into coming." Kakashi replied

"What makes you think I wasn't going to show up on my own, huh?" Akina crossed her arms, sending their teacher a mild glare.

"Oh?" Kakashi smiled. "My mistake, Akina. Of course you wouldn't have any reasons to not attend, would you?"

The girl huffed, but didn't bother answering.

Kakashi continued to smile. "But you're all here because you want to be and I'm very proud of you. Now get in there!"

The four genin smiled.


End file.
